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“To  increase  our  exports,  sufficient  money  is 
required  to  keep  all  the  industries  of  the 
country  employed!  Without  this,  National, 
as  well  as  individual,  bankruptcy  must  ensue!” 
President  Grant 
(In  his  Message  of  Dec.  1st,  1873). 


■ 

PRICE  10  CENTS 


J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture,  President 
Cleveland’s  Cabinet,  Advocating 
the  Gold  Standard 


Edward  Stern, 

Director  Bi-Metallic  Association, 
Philadelphia,  Advocating'  Free- 
Silver,  16  to  1 


J.  Sterling  Morton,  Secretary  of  Agriculture, 
President  Cleveland’s  Cabinet, 
Advocating  the 


SINGLE  GOLD  STANDARD 


Edward  Stern,  Director  Bi-Metallic  Association, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Advocating 

FREE  SILVER-16  TO  1 


If  Depreciation  in  the  Gold  Value  of  Silver  means 
the  Decline  of  American  Prosperity,  we  are  all  of  us 
Most  Vitally  Interested  in  the  Silver  Question.  . . 


Copyrighted  1895.  Revised  1896. 


PRICE  10  CENTS 


PHILADELPHIA: 
ECONOMIC  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1028  Cuthbert  Street. 


YA 

Democrat! 


II  II  II  II  II  II  II  II  - 

“I  believe  gold  and  silver  coin  to  be  tbe  money  of  tbe 
Constitntion!  No  power  was  conferred  on  Congress 
to  declare  tbat  either  metal  sbonld  not  be  money! 
CONGRESS  HAS,  IN  MY  JUDGMENT,  NO  POWER  TO 
DEMONETIZE  SILVER  ANY  MORE  THAN  TO  DEMONE- 
TIZE GOLD!” 

JAMES  G-  BLAINE. 


Populist! 


Republieplj 


II  II  II  II  II  II  II  II 

“I  concnr  with  yon  tbat  tbe  unit  ( tbe  dollar  ) mnst 
stand  on  botb  metals  (silver  and  gold)!” 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

(Tbe  Founder  of  Democracy,  in  a letter  to  Alexander 
Hamilton). 


H ii  ii  ii  ii  II  » n 

“Tbe  decay  of  civiliation  follows  tbe  continuous  in- 
crease of  tbe  purchasing-power  of  money  as  certain- 
ly as  night  follows  day!” 

WILLIAM  M.  STEWART 
(United  States  Senator,  Populist). 

II  II  II  II  I!  II  !l  II 

Now,  when  the  purse-proud  bankers,  bond-holders,  and  money-manipu- 
lators of  both  parties  are  throwing  off  their  masks,  and  openly  uniting 
to  rivet  the  English  gold  standard  of  money  upon  our  suffering  Nation, 
It  is  necessary  that  all  true  citizens  should  be  equally  regardless  of  past 
party  ties!  Let  us  candidly  admit  the  truth— viz.:  that,  since  the  war, 
both  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  have  secretly  been  domi- 
nated by  the  moneyed  leeches  of  Lombard  Street,  London,  and  Wall 
Street,  New  York!  We  are  face-to-face  with  the  gravest  crisis  in  the 
history  of  our  beloved  land!  In  union  there  is  strength!  Let  us  rally 
around  American  Silver!  Insist  that  it  have  the  same  mint  privileges 
as  English  Gold!!! 


Proiestant! 

tl 


Roman  Catholic!  Jewish! 

ii  ii  ii  ii  it  n 


“If  the  Silver  people  win,  I believe  there  will  be  such 
n revival  in  business,  such  a booming  in  industries 
which  are  now  inactive,  and  such  a general  shak- 
ing-up of  commercial  interests  that  the  country  will 
be  sure  to  prosper!” 

Rev.  Dr.  T.  DE  WITT  TALMAGE 
(The  most  popular  Protestant  minister  in  America). 

11  II  II  II  I;  II  II  II 


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“To  bring  the  matter  to  a point,  it  comes  to  this— 
That,  year  after  year,  more  corn,  more  hay,  more 
cattle  have  to  be  sold  by  the  farmer  to  enable  him  to 
get  the  gold  (or  Gold-standard  currency)  which  is 
required  to  meet  his  annual  payment!” 

ARCHBISHOP  WALSH 

(A  resident  of  Dublin,  Ireland;  one  of  the  most  be- 
loved of  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood;  an  earn- 
est worker  for  Silver  and  the  prosperity  of  his  na- 
tive land — cursed,  as  it  is,  w7ith  English  misrule). 

II  II  II  II  II  II  II  || 

“Gold  is  every  day  appreciating  in  value;  and,  as  it 
appreciates  in  value,  the  lower  prices  become!” 

LORD  BEAOONSFIELD 

(Benjamin  Disraeli — Prime  Minister  of  England;  he 
was  an  able,  broad-minded  Hebrew  statesman). 


Did  you  ever  hear  of  a panic  with  the  general  range  of  prices  station- 
ary or  advancing?  Did  you  ever  hear  of  stagnation  of  business  and  panic 
unless  prices  were  falling?  Bi-metallism  means  steady  prices,  which  in- 
sures prosperity!  The  Gold  Standard  means  ever-falling  prices,  with 
widespread  distress.  Is  it  not  time  for  Protestants,  Roman  Catholics, 
and  Jews  to  unite  for  the  welfare  of  humanity?  Is  not  this  the  essence 
of  all  religions?  Silver  and  Gold  are  the  money-metals  not  alone  of  our 
Constitution  but  of  our  Bible.  The  Bible,  speaking  of  the  workingmen  of 
•very  vocation,  says:  "The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  food,  his  clothing," 
•to.  But,  now  that  Silver,  the  money-metal  of  the  Bible,  is  denied  free 
coinage,  our  workingmen  are  compelled  to  stand  idle,  lacking  the  very 
necessaries  of  lifoJ 


\O\9  04-5> 


LINCOLN’S  WARNING! 


“Monarchy,  itself,  is  sometimes  hinted  at  as  a possible  refuge  from  the 
power  of  the  people.  In  my  present  position,  I could  scarcely  be  justi- 
field  were  I to  omit  raising  a warning  voice  against  this  approach  of  re- 
turning despotism.  It  is  not  needed  or  fitting  here  that  a general  argu- 
ment should  be  made  in  favor  of  popular  institutions;  but  there  is  one 
point,  with  its  connections,  not  so  hackneyed  as  most  others  to  which  I 
ask  a brief  attention.  It  is  the  effort  to  place  Capital  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing with,  if  not  above.  Labor  in  the  structure  of  government!  It  is  as- 
sumed that  Labor  is  available  only  in  connection  with  Capital — that  no- 
body labors  unless  somebody  else  owning  capital  somehow,  by  the  use 
of  it,  induces  him  to  labor.  * * * Labor  is  prior  to,  and  independent 
of,  Capital!  Capital  Is  only  the  fruit  of  Labor,  and  could  never  have  ex- 
isted if  Labor  had  not  first  existed!  Labor  is  the  superior  of  Capital, 
and  deserves  much  the  highest  consideration!  * * * No  men  living 

are  more  worthy  to  be  trusted  than  those  who  toil  up  from  poverty— 
none  less  Inclined  to  take  or  touch  aught  which  they  have  not  honestly 
earned!  Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a political  power  which  they 
already  possess,  and  which,  if  surrendered,  will  surely  be  used  to  close 
the  door  of  advancement  against  such  as  they,  and  to  fix  new  disabilities 
and  burdens  upon  them  till  all  of  liberty  shall  be  lost!” — Abraham  Lin- 
coln, in  his  second  annual  Message  to  Congress  (Appendix  Congression- 
al Globe,  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  second  session;  page  4). 

II  II  II  II  I!  II  II  II 

LINCOLN’S  PROPHECY! 


Near  the  close  of  the  war,  in  reply  to  a friend,  Mr.  Elkins,  of  Illinois, 
President  Lincoln  wrote: 

“Yes — we  may  all  congratulate  ourselves  that  this  cruel  war  is  nearing 
its  close!  It  has  cost  a vast  amount  of  treasure  and  blood!  The  best 
blood  of  the  flower  of  American  youth  has  been  freely  offered  upon  our 
country’s  altar  that  the  Nation  might  live!  It  has  been,  indeed,  a try- 
ing hour  for  the  Republic;  but  I see,  in  the  near  future,  a crisis  ap- 
proaching that  unnerves  me,  and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety 
of  my  country!  As  a result  of  the  war,  corporations  have  been  en- 
throned, and  an  era  of  corruption  in  high  prices  will  follow;  and  the 
money-power  of  the  country  will  endeavor  to  prolong  its  reign  by 


working  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  people  until  all  wealth  is  aggrega- 
ted in  a few  hands,  and  the  Republic  is  destroyed ! I feel  at  this  minute 
more  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  my  country  than  ever  before,  even  in 
the  midst  of  war!  God  grant  that  my  suspicions  may  prove  ground- 
less!” 

II  II  II  II  ' li  II  II  II 


Lincoln’s  warning  and  prophecy  have  become  realities;  and,  to-day, 
the  allied  capitalistic  press  of  the  1 arge  cities  throughout  our  country, 
regardless  of  diverse  party-ties  so  artfully  feigned  in  the  past,  are 
hounding  as  "Repudiators,”  "Anarchists,”  and  "Socialists”  those  citizens 
who,  mindful  of  Lincoln’s  words,  would  seek  to  serve  labor,  and  save 
all  producers  and  manufacturers  from  impending  ruin  by  remonetizing 
Silver!  Remind  these  Bnglish-Tory  papers  of  the  fact  that  the  Republi- 
can platform  upon  which  General  Harrison  was  elected  President  in 
1888  contained  this  declaration: 

“The  Republican  party  is  in  favor  of  the  use  of  both  Gold  and  Silver  as 
money,  and  condemns  the  policy  of  the  Democratic  Administration  in 
its  efforts  to  demonetize  Silver!” 

The  promises  of  the  Republican  platform  of  1892  were,  also,  in  the 
highest  degree,  favorable  to  Silver!  Why,  now,  this  sudden  change  in 
favor  of  English  Gold?  Why  this  absurd  denunciation  of  Free-Silver  ad- 
vocates as  "Repudiationists  and  "Anarchists”? 

“If  a government  contracted  a debt  with  a certain  amount  of  money  in 
circulation,  and  then  contracted  the  money-volume  before  the  debt  was 
paid,  it  is  the  most  heinous  crime  that  a government  could  commit 
against  tho  people!”— Abraham  Lincoln. 

Every  day,  under  the  baneful  Gold  Standard,  does  the  amount  of  mo- 
ney in  circulation  remain  stationary  or  shrink!  Every  day  our  popula- 
tion grows  in  numbers!  Every  day  does  the  per-capita  circulation  of 
money  contract!  Truly,  as  Lincoln  sums  it  up:  "This  is  the  most 

heinous  crime  that  a government  could  commit  against  the  people”! 

“Every  man  who  is  opposed  to  the  use  of  Silver  coin  as  part  of  the  le- 
gal-tender currency  of  the  country,  I disagree  with!  Every  man  who  is 
opposed  to  the  actual  legal  use  of  both  metals,  I disagree  with!  I 
would  endow  the  two  dollars  with  equality,  and  make  their  coinage 
free!”— James  A.  Garfield. 

We  American  Republicans  and  American  Democrats  have  slumbered 
on,  beguiled  by  false  issues,  whilst  the  English  Gold-standard  Republi- 
cans and  the  Gold-standard  Democrats  have  controlled  and  wrought  their 
wreck  and  ruin  by  plundering  all  honest  producers  of  our  Nation!  It  is 
not  too  late  to  save  the  Ship  of  State!!  Let  all  Americans  unite!!! 

“A  free  government  cannot  long  endure  where  the  tendency  of  the  laws 
is  to  concentrate  the  wealth  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  a few,  and 
to  render  the  masses  poor  and  dependent!”— Daniel  Webster. 


This  Correspondence  is  respectfully  dedicated 
to  those  of  the  human  race  who,  banishing 
prejudice,  and  ever  seeking  the  guidance  of 
reason  and  affection,  are  desirous  of  aiding 
and  uplifting  suffering  humanity.  The  true 
welfare  of  human  beings  is  of  immeasurably 
greater  importance  than  the  selfish  interests 
of  the  producers,  holders,  or  manipulators  of 
the  metal  Gold / 


Opening  of  the  Correspondence. 


Philadelphia,  June  15,  1895. 

J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:— I think  it  is  a great  pity  that 
all  our  public  men  are  not  as  outspoken 
as  you  are.  As  a nation,  we  crave  direct- 
ness of  speech  upon  all  questions  at  issue; 
and,  yet,  we  find  the  prominent  statesmen 
of  both  parties  engaged  in  avoiding,  evad- 
ing, or  performing  the  old-time  straddling- 
act  when  it  comes  to  the  Silver  question. 
I fully  agree  with  you  that,  as  a nation, 
we  are  honest  and  law-abiding,  and  will 
tolerate  no  dishonesty  or  juggling;  and, 
yet,  there  is  one  point  which  I would  like 
to  have  you  clear  up  in  your  terse  and 
vigorous  style,  and  that  Is  the  relation  or 
bearing  of  cheap  silver  upon  the  low 
prices  of  our  staple  agricultural  products — 
wheat  and  cotton.  It  seems  to  me  that 
our  farmers  and  planters  are  being  forced 
to  the  wall  by  competition  with  the  wheat 
and  cotton  producers  of  silver-currency 
countries.  Anything  whieh  saps  or  im- 
pairs the  prosperity  of  our  agriculturists 
is  certainly,  a national  calamity.  Do  you 
think  that  the  present  low  price  of  our 
staple  products  will  continue  to  rule,  or  do 
you  regard  it  as  incidental  to  the  great 
depression  which  our  nation  has  and  is 
experiencing?  Yours  truly, 

EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  0.  Box  955,  Phila. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  June  17,  1895. 
Edward  Stem.  Esq., 

P.  0.  Box  955,  Phila. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I hasten  to  thank  you  for 
your  very  kindly-worded  communication 
of  June  15th.  and  to  assure  you  that  I 
have  never  believed  that  the  decline  in 
the  price  of  silver  bullion,  which  resulted 
from  the  supply  of  that  metal  being  larger 


(1)  Our  honored  and  respected  Secre- 
tary falls  into  a most  glaring  error;  but, 
it  is  one  common  to  all  advocates  of  the 
dishonest  and  inhuman  Gold  standard. 
Since  1873,  the  production  of  the  two  met- 
als, gold  and  silver,  throughout  the  world 
has  been  practically  equal  in  value — this  at 
our  Mint  ratio  of  16  to  L Prior  to  1873. 
there  were  periods  when  the  value  of 
silver,  mined,  was  three  times  that  cxf 
gold.  Likewise,  there  were  periods  when 
the  value  of  gold  produced  was  three 
times  that  of  silver.  Despite  the  uneven 
production  of  the  two  metals  prior  to 
1873,  their  ratio  of  value  held  steady  at  15% 
to  1.  Write  to  the  Department  of  Labor, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  asking  that  Bulletin 
No.  2 be  forwarded  to  you.  No  charge  is 
made  for  this  invaluable  pamphlet.  To- 
ward the  close  of  it,  important  tables  of 
official  Governmental  statistics  will  be 
found  which  will  confirm  above  state- 
ments, and  thus  give  a death-blow  to  the 
brazen  falsehoods  which  are  the  only 
stock-in-trade  possessed  by  Gold-standard 
journals  and  advocates.  Using  those  ta- 
bles, you  will  ascertain  that  there  is  vast- 


than  the  demand  for  it  (1),  has  caused  the 
decline  in  wheat  and  other  agricultural 
products.  The  fact  that  wheat  has  ad- 
vanced from  62  cents  on  the  first  day  of 
last  March  to  as  high  as  81  cents  in  this 
present  month  of  June  indicates  that  the 
low  price  of  silver  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  price  of  wheat. 

The  constant  high  price  of  hogs  and  hog 
products  during  all  this  decline  in  silver 
further  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  decline 
in  silver  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  prices 
of  land  products.  The  advocates  of  the 
free  coinage  of  silver  at  16  to  1 declare 
that  their  policy,  if  carried  out  by  enact- 
ments, will  enable  farmers  to  get  bigger 
prices  for  their  products.  The  argument  is 
very  much  like  the  one  which  Protection- 
ists used  in  favor  of  a high  tariff,  and 
which  taught  farmers  that  the  McKinley 
bill  would  enhance  the  price  of  everything 
they  had  to  sell  and  reduce  the  price  of 
everything  they  had  to  buy.  It  is  very 
difficult  for  my  obtuse  mind  to  discern 
why  a farmer  will  be  able  to  buy  with  a 
bushel  of  wheat  more  silver  at  $1.29  an 
ounce  than  he  can  get  with  the  same 
amount  of  wheat  when  silver  Is  only  62 
cents  an  ounce.  In  short,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  why  a bushel  of  wheat  will 
buy  more  silver  at  $1.29  an  ounce  than  it 
can  buy  with  the  same  metal  at  62  cents 
an  ounce. 

The  fact  that  the  Government  stamp 
gives  no  value,  but  only  certifies  the 
weight  and  fineness  of  a metallic  coin  (2), 
is  very  well  illustrated  by  the  Bank  of 
England,  which  is  the  greatest  dealer  in 
bullion  and  coins  on  the  civilized  globe. 
That  institution  pays  for  United  States 
gold  coins  76  shillings  4%  pence  an  ounce, 
and  sells  the  same  at  76  shillings  8 pence 
per  ounce.  But  it  pays  for  gold  bullion  of 
standard  fineness  77  shillings  9 pence  per 
ounce,  and  seils  the  same  (if  it  will  sell  at 
the  present  time)  at  77  shillings  II  pence 


ly  less  silver  in  the  world  to-day,  as  com- 
pared with  gold,  than  was  the  case  fifty 
years  ago.  Ask  the  English-American 
Goldites  how,  under  these  circumstances, 
could  silver  depreciate,  as  compared  with 
gold,  unless  on  account  of  its  stealthy,  un- 
debated, uncalled-for  demonetization  in 
1873.  The  secret  demonetization  of  silver 
in  that  year  was  the  most  gigantic  crime 
in  the  annals  of  recorded  history! 

(2)  At  this  point,  Mr.  Morton  lightly 
overlooks  and  evades  the  most  important 
phase  of  the  money  question.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  fundamental  principle  which 
solves  and  explains  the  subject  In  addi- 
tion to  certifying  weight  and  fineness,  the 
stamp  of  the  Government  makes  the  coin, 
be  it  gold,  silver,  or  of  paper,  a legal  ten- 
der In  payment  of  debts.  Thus,  it  will 
be  found  upon  examination,  even  gold 
coins  are  fiat  money— that  is,  they  per- 
form the  money  function  by  the  flat  or 
command  of  law.  In  accord  with  theTr 
conspiracy  against  silver,  the  Gold-stand- 
ard partisans  make  a special  point  of  dis- 
crediting the  greenbacks*  almost  Invaria- 
bly attaching  the  term  “fiat  money”  to 


8 


t?er  ounce.  This  simply  shows  that  gold 
bars  are  wurth  a shilling  and  a half  pence 
■ 1 shilling  4V£  pence)  per  ounce  more  than 
United  States  gold  eagles. 

There  should  be  but  one  standard  unit  of 
money— a measure  of  the  value  of  all 
property  and  the  instrument  of  commerce. 
It  should  be  made  of  one  metal  only. 
That  metal  should  be  coined  absolutely 
free  from  all  charge,  so  as  to  preserve  ex- 
actly the  same  value  as  uncoined  bullion. 
The  legal  ratio  of  silver  to  gold  should  be 
the  commercial  ratio,  or  as  nearly  the 
commercial  ratio  as  possible.  Neither  the 
United  States,  nor  the  law-making  powers 
of  the  globe  concentrated,  can  establish 
and  maintain  a legal  ratio  which  is  very 
much  different  from  the  commercial  ratio. 
The  commercial  ratio  of  silver  to  gold  at 
the  present  moment  is  as  1 to  35.  It  may 
go  much  lower  still. 

The  Bank  of  France  carries  a stock  of 
silver  the  nominal  value  of  which  is  about 
$250,000,000.  But  how  does  it  carry  this 
nominal  value?  Because  it  was  originally 
valued  at  15V&  to  1,  as  to  gold.  And  it  is 
only  maintained  at  this  nominal  value  by 
rigorously  closing  the  French  mints  to 
the  coinage  of  silver.  If  France  opens  its 
mints  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver  at  its 
present  price,  this  immense  stock  of  silver 
would  lose  instantly  about  $140,000,000  of 
its  nominal  value.  If  bi-metallists  believe 
the  French  Government  will  yield  to  their 
importunities  and  give  effect  to  their  im- 
practical fad  (3),  then  bi-metallists  are  be- 
yond the  reach  of  reason.  If  we  are  right- 
ly informed,  there  is  no  gold  in  general 
circulation  in  France. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

J.  STERLING  MORTON. 


Philadelphia,  June  18,  1895. 
Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — Many  thanks  for  your  prompt 
and  courteous  reply  to  my  letter  of  the 
15th  instant.  Speaking  for  the  mass  of  our 


them;  but  they  carefully  conceal  the  fact 
that  all  circulating  units,  regardless  of  the 
material  of  which  they  are  made,  equally 
and  similarly  perform  the  money  function 
by  the  legislative  flat  or  command  of 
law.  To  show  the  utter  insincerity  and 
duplicity  of  the  Gold-standard  cormorants, 
Mr.  Stern  will  be  pleased  to  pay  $100  for 
any  money,  no  matter  how  small  in 
amount,  or  of  what  material— gold,  silver, 
or  paper — that  is  not  flat  money.  We  are 
not  concerned  in  the  use  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver in  the  performance  of  the  money  func- 
tion; but,  as  individual  citizens,  and  as  a 
Nation,  we  are  most  vitally  interested  in 
restoring  and  maintaning  the  true  ratio 
of  value  (16  to  1)  between  the  world’s  two 
money  metals.  The  dollar  is  not  a unit  of 
value;  it  is  our  National  unit  of  account! 
The  welfare  of  our  citizens  demands  that 
the  circulating  units  representing  our  dol- 
lar should  be  stable  in  purchasing  power. 
Circulating  units  which  continually  ap- 
preciate in  purchasing  power  paralyze  pro- 
ductive industry  of  every  character.  For 
twenty-three  years  past,  gold  has,  more  or 
less  regularly,  appreciated  in  purchasing 
power ! 

(3)  In  his  letter,  Secretary  Morton  re- 


citizens, with  whose  traits  of  character 
we  are  all  conversant,  I wish  to  again 
thank  you  for  your  unquestioned  position 
upon  this  momentous  currency  question — 
this  entirely  aside  from  agreement  or  non- 
agreement with  your  views  and  your  ex- 
position of  them.  We  appreciate  candor. 
No  rational  man  in  this  broad  Union  need 
have  any  doubt  regarding  your  position. 
"We  know  that  there  is  not  so  much  as  a 
silver-plating  upon  your  gold-monometal- 
lism; it  is  "Sterling”  gold  from  centre  to 
circumference.  Those  of  our  statesmen 
who  still  remain  upon  the  fence  will  soon 
find  their  position  unenviable;  for,  if  they 
will  not  Jump  upon  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  freely  state  their  reasons  pro  and  con, 
as  you  have,  and  are — and,  no  doubt,  will 
continue — doing,  they  will  shortly  experi- 
ence a tumble  into  the  mud  of  oblivion; 
for  the  American  people  are  tearing  down 
the  fence,  and  they  are  not  going  to  stop 
until  the  contract  is  completed. 

Thanks  for  your  kind  efforts  to  clear  up 
the  subject;  but  there  are  points  in  your 
explanation  which  do  not  explain  — in 
short,  to  my  limited  vision,  they  appear 
radically  (in  fact,  fatally)  defective.  For 
instance,  you  appear  to  labor  under  the 
impression  that  our  farmers  and  planters 
desire  more  silver  for  their  products. 
This  is  a grave  error;  they  desire  fairer 
gold  prices.  They  realize  most  clearly 
that,  whilst  they  are  being  forced  to  the 
wall  and  discouraged  from  producing  on 
account  of  the  ruinously-low  Gold-stand- 
ard prices  which  they  receive  for  their 
wheat  and  cotton,  the  farmers  and  plant- 
ers of  Russia,  of  India,  and  of  the  Argen- 
tine Confederation — in  short,  the  farmers 
and  planters  of  all  Silver-currency  coun- 
tries—are,  and  have  been,  receiving  for 
the  past  twenty  years  very  uniform  and 
profitable  Silver  prices  fop  all  they  can 
produce;  and  they  are,  therefore,  encou- 
raged and  stimulated  to  produce  more  and 
more.  The  injustice  of  this  English- 
planned  financial  juggle  does  not  stop 
here.  Many  of  our  farmers  have  been  and 


fors  to  his  "obtuse  mind.”  If  he  really 
suffers  from  this  mild  affliction,  and  not 
from  something  more  serious,  as  is  the 
case  with  many  subsidized  Republican  and 
Democratic  Gold-standard  advocates  and 
Journals,  it  may  excuse  him  for  terming 
"bi-metallism  an  impracticable  fad.”  Mr. 
Balfour,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Conservative  party  of  Eng- 
land. said  in  one  of  his  latest  speeches: 
"The  general  concensus  of  scientific  opin- 
ion has  for  many  years  been  thrown  with 
an  overwhelming  balance  of  opinion  into 
the  scale  of  the  double  standard  (bi-met- 
allism)." In  the  London  National  Re- 
view of  July,  1894,  Sir  David  Barbour,  K. 
C.  8.  I.,  than  whom  there  is  no  higher  au- 
thority, fully  corroborates  the  above  state- 
ment; and,  yet,  Mr.  Morton  attempts  to 
blind  the  American  people  to  the  import- 
ance of  Free  Silver  by  terming  it  an  ”im- 

Eraotical  fad”!  The  quotations  which  I 
ave  used,  and  will  make  use  of.  In  this 
correspondence  are  of  the  very  highest 
character,  and  I will  vouch  for  their  ac- 
curacy, many  being  from  English  sources, 
so  as  to  be  entirely  free  from  the  taint  of 
Influence  by  the  silver-mine  owners  who 
figure  so  largely  in  the  minds  or  imagi- 
nations of  Goldites.  To  be  consistent,  they 


9 


are  indebted— in  a word,  their  farms  are 
mortgaged.  These  farmers  and  planters 
are  painfully  conscious  of  the  undoubted 
fact  that,  as  years  have  rolled  on,  it  re- 
quires the  raising  of  more  wheat  and  cot- 
ton to  raise  the  mortgage,  or  to  pay  the 
semi-annual  interest  thereon. 

These  hardy  tillers  of  the  soil  are  justly 
hot,  and  grow  hotter,  as  they  view  the  fact 
that  in  all  Silver-currency  nations  the  lot 
of  the  agriculturist  is  fairer  and  happier. 
In  these  nations,  if  a farmer  owes  an  old 
debt  which  could  have  been  paid  off  ten 
years  ago  by  raising  his  500  bushels  of 
wheat,  or  5,000  pounds  of  cotton,  he  can 
to-day  discharge  that  indebtedness  by  rais- 
ing substantially  the  same  amounts  of 
wheat  or  cotton.  Ycur  references  to  the 
present  higher  prices  of  wheat  with  silver 
stationary  and  low  is  extremely  unfair. 
It  is  quite  commonly  known  that,  when 
wheat  was  selling  at  50  cents  a bushel, 
idle  capital  bought  large  quantities  at  that 
figure  and  stored  it  (4).  I admit  that, 
when  a syndicate  controls  a very  large 
amount  of  the  visible  supply  of  any  com- 
modity which  is  much  needed,  they  can 
set  an  arbitrary — and,  too  often,  unjustly 
high — price  upon  it  when  selling  to  those 
who  do  not  possess  it,  but  require  it. 

In  fact,  this  very  argument  holds  good 
when  applied  to  the  commodity  upon  which 
you  would  build  the  only  safe,  sound  cur- 
rency of  the  world — viz.:  gold!  If  you 
question  this  fact,  step  over  to  the  Treas- 
ury Department  and  consult  Secretary  Car- 
lisle upon  the  price  received  by  our  Gov- 
ernment for  its  last  issue  of  bonds.  Your 


should  also  occasionally  refer  to  the  Eng- 
lish owners  of  gold-mines,  and  the  efforts 
England  has  made,  and  is  ever  making,  to 
control  the  most  valuable  gold-bearing  ter- 
ritories of  the  world!  The  remonetization 
of  silver  is  but  the  first  move  in  the  des- 
perate contest  we  must  wage  with  the 
strongly-entrenched  band  of  gold-cornerers 
and  bank-manipulators,  who,  both  here 
and  abroad  (they  act  as  a unit!),  are  rapid- 
ly absorbing  the  wealth  which  the  labor 
and  ingenuity  of  man  has  created  and  is 
creating!  Free  Silver  the  world  over  is 
the  cause  of  the  producers  against  the 
bond-holders  and  bankers!  The  bankers 
toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin;  but,  never- 
theless, through  financial  trickery  and 
knavery,  the  wealth  of  the  world  is  being 
rapidly  absorbed  by  them!  To  a man,  they 
are  opposed  to  Free  Silver!  To  a man, 
therefore,  should  the  real  wealth-producers 
— the  People!— work  and  vote  for  Free  Sil- 
ver: it  is  our  Nation’s  only  salvation! 

(4)  The  most  convincing  proof  of  the  ac- 
curacy of  a prediction  is  its  fulfilment! 
The  following  editorial  from  the  Philadel- 
phia Record  of  July  10,  1895,  fully  corrobo- 
rates my  statement.  The  Record  Is  a Gold- 
standard  paper,  and  has  a daily  circulation 
•f  150,000  and  upward: 

"There  was  a still  further  fall  of  5 cents 
a bushel  in  wheat  prices  yesterday,  which 
made  a total  decline  of  over  8 cents  in  two 
days,  and  a drop  of  from  20  to  22  cents 
from  the  highest  figures  recorded  during 
the  recent  ‘short-crop’  boom.  Speculators 
who  have  been  holding  prices  above  an  ex- 
port basis,  while  Russian  and  Argentine 
shippers  met  the  European  demand  at  low- 


reference  to  the  high  price  of  pork  pro- 
duct; injures  your  arguments;  for  you 
must  certainly  admit  that  our  noble  Amer- 
ican animal,  the  pig,  is  not  raised,  and 
cured,  and  packed  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent by  people  of  Silver-currency  nations. 
Thus,  even  when  excluded  by  some  Gold- 
standard  countries,  our  hogs  manage  to 
hold  their  heads  up  in  our  markets  and 
the  markets  of  the  world!  Can  you  point 
out  to  me  a single  product  of  Silver-cur- 
rency nations  which  has  not  declined  in 
price  when  compared  with  the  gold  stand- 
ard of  value?  My  fear,  as  already  stated 
to  you  in  my  letter  of  the  15th  instant,  is 
that  our  planters  and  farmers  are  being 
subjected  to  an  intense  and  unfair  compe- 
tition with  the  products  of  countries  in 
which  a given  weight  of  silver,  coined  or 
uncoined,  is  just  as  good  money  to-day  as 
it  was  twenty-five  years  ago!  My  per- 
ception is  that,  so  long  as  silver  is  the 
only  sound  money  used  by  900,000,000  of 
human  beings,  it  necessarily  follows  that, 
as  a given  weight  of  gold  buys  more  and 
more  silver  bullion,  every  dollar  of  gold 
and  every  Gold-standard  dollar  buys  more 
and  more  of  all  the  products  of  the  teem- 
ing millions  who  are  inhabitants  of  the 
Silver-currency  nations!  This  simple  pro- 
position, or  maxim,  seems,  to  me,  to  be 
irrefutable.  Would  like  to  have  your 
views  upon  it! 

On  June  26,  1893,  the  news  went  flashing 
around  the  world:  "Mints  of  India  have 

been  closed  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
by  England’s  orders.”  We  will  not  stop  to 
argue  if  gold  appreciated  or  silver  de- 


er prices,  have  been  steadily  unloading  as 
the  progress  of  the  harvest  season  has  re- 
vealed the  unreliability  of  the  early  crop 
estimates.  In  every  recent  year  the  wheat 
yield  has  been  underestimated  in  June  and 
July  anywhere  from  50,000,000  to  100,000,000 
bushels;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
speculative  crop-killers  have  made  a sim- 
ilar mistake  this  season.  The  reaction  has 
earried  wheat  prices  to  65  cents  per  bushel 
on  the  seaboard — a quotation  which  is  only 
5 cents  above  the  low  Spring  level  from 
which  the  May-June  advance  started.  The 
present  range  of  values  should  enable 
American  exporters  to  reclaim  a large 
share  of  the  foreign  demand,  the  recent 
absence  of  which  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  impelling  liquidation.” 

Mr.  Morton  will  notice  that  the  above 
Gold-standard  editorial  fully  confirms  the 
statement  in  my  letter  to  him— viz. : that 
the  speculative  advance  in  the  price  of 
wheat  did  not  benefit  our  farmers,  but  that 
its  advantages  were  reaped  entirely  by 
"speculators  who  have  been  holding  prices 
above  an  export  basis”!  He  has  stated 
that  he  is  a firm  believer  in  the  price-ad- 
justing qualities  of  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand:  so  am  I,  in  common  with  the  vast 
majority  of  our  citizens!  Will  Mr.  Morton 
kindly  explain  the  following  peculiar  con- 
dition?—Since  the  year  1891,  the  world’s 
annual  supply  of  wheat  has  been  station- 
ary or  declining;  since  1891,  the  population 
of  the  world  has  steadily  increased,  as 
usual;  and  yet,  in  the  face  of  a diminish- 
ing supply,  and  of  an  increasing  demand, 
the  Gold-standard  price  of  wheat  has  stead- 
ily declined  in  the  most  alarming  manner! 


10 


predated,  but  think  vre  can  agree  that 
almost  Instantly  a given  quantity  of  gold 
bought  from  20  to  25  per  cent  more  of 
silver.  The  point  at  which  I am  driving, 
and  upon  which  would  much  appreciate 
your  judgment  Is  this:  Under  the  circum- 
stances just  stated,  unless  the  silver  price 
Of  wheat  and  cotton  in  India,  of  wheat  in 
Russia  and  Argentine  Confederation  ad- 
vanced, it  follows  that  one  dollar  of 
gold  or  one  dollar  of  any  Gold-standard 
currency  would  simultaneously,  with  the 
increased  purchasing  power  of  gold  over 
silver,  possess  the  same  increased  power 
in  purchasing  wheat  or  cotton,  or  any  oth- 
er product  of  silver-currency  countries. 

Stress  is  laid  upon  wheat  and  cotton,  as 
these  are  the  two  great  agricultural  staples 
which  we,  a Gold-standard  nation,  raise  in 
immense  quantities,  and  necessarily  meet 
the  competition  of  the  silver-currency 
countries  upon  them.  (6)  Our  farmers  and 
planters  are  painfully  aware  that  as  soon 
as  gold  bought  more  silver,  it  bought  more 
of  their  wheat  and  cotton.  Do  you  think 
that  the  depreciation  of  silver,  as  com- 
pared with  gold,  had  anything  to  do  with 
that  little  flurry  In  the  prices  of  products 
in  which  millions  of  our  countrymen  are 
most  vitally  interested? 

They  have  formed  an  association  down 
here  at  our  quiet  village,  as  the  New 
Yorkers  term  our  town — Bl-Metallic  Asso- 
ciation of  Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A.,  I be- 
lieve they  call  it.  Without  solicitation 
they  have  run  me  in  as  a director,  and,  al- 
though some  of  the  ablest  and  most  prom- 
inent denizens  of  our  peaceable  overgrown 
village  are  In  the  Board,  I will  certainly 
feel  constrained  to  withdraw  if  the  objects 
which  they  have  in  view  are  unpatriotic 
or  dishonorable  in  the  slightest  degree. 

Boiled  down  to  a concentrated  essence, 
the  gist  of  the  movement  appears  to  be 
that  numbers  of  able  bankers,  ex  and 
active,  of  manufacturers,  of  business  men, 


of  citizens  generally, think  that  the  hard 
times  we  have  experienced  and  are  expe- 
riencing, are,  to  a very  considerable  ex- 
tent, due  to  the  continued  depreciation  of 
silver,  as  compared  with  the  gold  stand- 
ard of  money  value.  Do  not  understand 
. me  to  assert  that  our  citizens  believe  that 
the  rehabilitation  of  silver  to  its  old  time- 
honored  position  as  a money  metal,  co- 
equal  with  gold,  would  bring  about  the 
millennium;  but,  seriously,  quite  a number 
do  think  that  It  would  be  a long  step  in 
that  direction.  All  members  of  the  Asso- 
ciation are  agreed  that  silver  bullion 
should  be  welcomed  at  our  mints  in  any 
and  every  quantity,  regardless  of  the 
creed,  color  or  previous  condition  of  ser- 
vitude of  the  possessors  of  it  They  think 
that  the  welcome  accorded  it  should  be 
sufficiently  warm  to  melt  it  refine  it 
alloy  it  and  stamp  it  as  full  legal  tender 
money  of  these  United  States  of  America 
but  these  men,  utterly  misinformed  on 
the  subject  of  sound  finance  from  your 
standpoint,  go  even  further  than  this. 
They  stoutly  maintain  that  in  union  there 
is  strength,  and  that  if  the  slumbering 
patriotism  of  our  grand  old  Common- 
wealth is  once  aroused— that  initiating 
and  pursuing  an  honorable  and  vigorous 
national  policy — it  is  in  our  power  to  so 
influence  the  financial  world  that  ten  of 
our  present  standard  silver  dollars  melted 
down  will  purchase  a gold  eagle  of  the 
present  weight  and  standard  of  fineness 
anywhere  upon  the  face  of  this  earth 
wherever  these  metals  are  for  sale  or  on 
exchange.  Knowing  the  intense  interest 
you  have  displayed  upon  this  subject, 
and  your  strong  desire  to  contribute  what- 
ever Influence  you  could  toward  saving 
our  nation  from  pursuing  a policy  of 
financial  repudiation  with  all  its  accom- 
panying dishonor  and  ignominy  I have 
written  and  do  write  to  you. 

The  strangest  part  of  the  whole  matter 


(5)  Henry  M.  Teller  United  States  Sena- 
tor, a Republican  and  an  earnest  advocate 
of  protection,  sums  up  the  situation  as  fol- 
lows; “This  cause  (the  depreciation  of 
silver)  has  been  for  years  forcing  down 
the  price  of  wheat  and  cotton,  and  now 
it  is  beginning  to  operate  upon  the  price 
of  wool  and  manufactured  goods.  Last 
year  (1895)  China  exported  to  this  country 
about  23,000,000  pounds  of  wool.  The  im- 
porter could  buy  this  wool  in  China  at  nin© 
cents  per  pound  in  silver,  and  with  five 
cents  In  gold  could  buy  the  nine  cents  in 
silver,  thus  making  the  gold  price  of  wool 
but  five  cents  per  pound.  At  this  price  it 
comes  Into  market  to  compete  with  our 
wool  product.  So  large  a margin  of  profit 
will  stimulate  production  In  China  and 
exports  will  be  Increased  until  the  en- 
larged supply  brings  the  price  still  lower 
and  our  wool  growers  are  driven  out  of 
business. 

“How  can  an  ordinary  tariff  meet  this 
difficulty?  We  must  lay  a tariff  of  at  least 
100  per  cent,  of  the  gold  price  to  offset 
the  advantage  to  those  countries  growing 
out  of  the  absence  of  a par  of  exchange 
between  them  and  the  Gold-standard  coun- 
tries. Then,  if  the  tariff  is  to  afford 
protection  to  labor  an  additional  duty 
must  be  laid  for  that  purpose.  No  one 
contemplates  so  high  a tariff  as  this  would 
be,  yet  it  is  clear  that  nothing  less  will 


be  in  any  degree  effective  as  a remedy. 
These  silver-using  nations,  notably  Japan 
and  India  are,  for  the  reasons  above  Indi- 
cated, able  to  put  their  manufactured  g :ods 
market  of  the  world  at  prices 
which  defy  competition.’’ 

Henry  M.  Teller,  a life-long  Republican, 
disgusted  with  the  party's  truckling  and 
deferring  to  monometallic  English  capi- 
talistic influence,  has  left  it,  and  will  work 
for  American  silver  and  Bryan  as  con- 
trasted with  British  gold  and  McKinley. 
He  and  his  Western  associates  alone  will 
Influence  upwards  of  1,500,000  voters.  A 
truly  protective  tariff  cannot  be  main- 
tained whilst  we  are  upon  a gold  standard 
as  at  present.  The  English  gold  standard 
and  English  free  trade  are  synonymous 
terms.  The  remonetization  of  silver  will 
bring  prosperity  to  our  manufacturers  and 
their  hundreds  of  thousands  of  employes. 

Gold-standard  protective-tariff  voters, 
read  the  following  utterance  of  Governor 
Griggs,  of  New  Jersey.  He  is  a Gold- 
standard  Republican  and  wrote  In  a recent 
public  letter:  “I  believe  In  a protective 

tariff,  but  I would  sooner  a thousand  times 
live  under  a sound  money  (gold)  free  trade 
administration  than  under  a free  silver 
Administration,  even  If  it  favored  pro- 
tection.” You  now'  understand  why  an 
eminent  Protectionist  like  Henry  M.  Tel- 
ler favors  Bryan  and  Free  Silver! 


11 


Is  that  the  members  of  the  Bi-Metallic  As- 
sociation of  Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A.,  be- 
lieve, or  affect  to  believe,  that  the  policy 
ou  advocate  is  vicious  and  unpatriotlo, 
ut  they  are  in  some  respects  at  least 
very  fair-minded  men.  There  is  Wharton 
Barker,  Esq.,  publisher  of  a weekly  paper 
which  discusses  all  sides  of  the  currency 
question,  and  hi  patrlotio  at  least  in 
name,  for  it  is  called  The  American.  He 
says,  "turn  on  the  light” — light  from 
every  side,  and  also  from  celling  and 
floor,  if  possible.  He  says  we  cannot 
have  too  much  light;  the  American  people 
want  light  on  this  subject.  Mr.  Barker 
has  kindly  volunteered  to  print  your  let- 
ters in  full  as  well  as  my  own.  What 
we  wish  is  to  get  the  truth  before  the 
eople,  not  before  silverites  or  goldites, 
ut  before  all  Americanites.  I think  you 
will  appreciate  this  opportunity  of  reach- 
ing and  influencing  the  enemies  of  our 
country’s  honor  and  prosperity.  I for 
one  intend  to  drop  out  of  the  Association 
as  soon  as  you  clear  up  the  subject. 

Yours  very  truly, 
EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Phila. 


SECRETARY  MORTON  SHIRKS  PUBLIC 

DISCUSSION. 

Philadelphia,  June  BO,  1895. 

J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir:— Your  voluminous  letter  of  the 
19th  instant,  marked  ‘‘Personal  and  Pri- 
vate,” is  at  hand  and  contents  noted.  I 
most  respectfully  decline  to  accede  to 
your  request  that  your  letter  of  17th  inst., 
together  with  my  reply  to  same,  shall 
be  held  confidential.  Every  effort  will 
be  made  by  me  to  give  it  the  widest  pub- 
licity. At  the  three  last  Presidential 
elections  I voted  for  Elector*  who  were 
pledged  to  elect  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland 
to  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of 
the  people.  I am  as  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  principles  of  the  grand  old 
Democratic  party  as  you  are,  and  am 
perhaps  more  faithful  to  them.  I know 
that  fealty  to  those  principles  is  demanded 
of  the  highest  officials  of  our  government 
as  well  as  from  the  humblest  voter  of  our 
country.  Furthermore,  I know  that  you 
have  frequently  written  letters  upon  the 
currency  question,  many  of  which  letters 
have  been  widely  published  and  comment- 
ed upon.  You  are  a public  official,  a ser- 
vant of  the  people,  and  we,  the  people, 
are  entitled  to  know  the  inner  views  and 
perceptions  of  our  servants  (upon  public 
questions).  Yon  have  taken  an  oath  to 
uphold  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  our 
forefathers.  Have  you  ever  read  it  with 
a particle  of  the  reverent  respect  with 
which  the  Democratic  voters  of  our  land 
regard  it?  You  will  find  therein  stated 
that  silver  shall  be  a money  metal  in  the 
same  sense  that  gold  is  and  has  been. 
Shame!  shame!  that  you,  a high  official  of 
our  government,  should,  whilst  holding 
office,  conduot  an  underhand  warfare  di- 
rected against  the  explicit  declarations  of 
the  basic  law  of  our  Union. 

Speaking  in  the  name  of  the  Democratic 
voters  from  Maine  to  Texas,  I demand 
that  you  continue  your  correspondence  up- 
on the  currency  question,  and  that  you 


mask  no  hidden  unconstitutional  policy. 
Lengthy  as  is  your  personal  and  private 
communication  of  the  19th  instant  you  do 
not  find  space  therein  to  mention,  let 
alone  refute,  the  arguments  advanced  in 
my  letter  to  you  of  the  18th  Inst. 

Your  letter  of  the  19th  Instant,  marked 
“Personal  and  Private,”  will  be  so  re- 
garded, and  will  not  be  published  unless 
you  remove  the  restriction. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Phila. 


THE  PERSONAL  AND  PRIVATE  LET- 
TER. 

This  is  the  letter  of  which  Mr.  Morton 
reluctantly  permits  publication: 

Mr.  Morton  occupies  the  uniquely  dis- 
honorable position  of  a public  official  at- 
tempting to  suppress  correspondence  upon 
a public  question.  The  face  of  every  true 
American  must  flush  with  mortification  on 
reading  the  first,  lines  of  this  UN  AMER- 
ICAN communication!  Every  one  can 
well  understand  the  indignation  openly 
manifested  by  Mr.  Stern  in  his  rejoinder 
of  June  20. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  June  19,  1895. 
Edward  Stern,  Esq.,  P.  0.  Box  955,  Phila. 

Dear  Sir:  I hasten  to  reply  to  your  com- 
munication of  the  18th,  and  to  inform  you 
that  it  was  not  written  for  publication, 
and  that  I am  not  writing  this  for  pub- 
lication, and,  furthermore,  that  I desire 
you  to  suppress  the  publication  of  my  lor- 
mer  letter  to  you,  because  it  was  written 
hurriedly  and  is  not  carefully  enough 
worded  for  publication,  while  it  might  do 
very  well  as  a mere  expression  of  opin- 
ion in  a private  letter. 

THE  RELATION  OF  SUPPLY  AND 
DEMAND  IS  THE  SOLE  REGULATOR 
OF  VALUE.  THIS  INEXORABLE  LAW 
APPLIES  TO  GOLD  AND  SILVER  BUL- 
LION, AS  IT  DOES  TO  ALL  OTHER  EX- 
CHANGEABLE COMMODITIES.  Gold  and 
silver  were  money  long  before  there  were 
any  statutes  relative  to  money.  Statues 
regulating  money  are  the  EFFECT  of 
money  and  not  the  cause  of  money.  But 
statutes  cannot  make  things  equal  which 
are  not  equal  by  nature  and  for  which  the 
public  do  not  make  equal  demand.  A law 
enacted  by  Congress  declaring  that  16 
pounds  of  bran  shall  always  be  equal  to 
8 pounds  of  wheat,  will  have  no  etrecc  in 
the  commercial  world,  unless  it  is  pre- 
cisely the  ratio  of  exchangallbity  in  th® 
world  of  commerce,  of  bran  to  wheat. 
IT  IS  NOT  THE  BUSINESS  OF  GOVERN- 
MENT TO  MAKE  AN  ARTIFICIAL  PRICE 
FOR  WHEAT  BY  CREATING  AN  ARTI- 
FICIAL DEMAND  THEREFOR.  NOR  IS 
THE  BUSINESS  OF  GOVERNMENT 
TO  MAKE  AN  ARTIFICIAL  PRICE 
FOR  6ILVER  BY  CREATING  AN  ARTI- 
FICIAL DEMAND  FOR  THAT  METAL  (6). 


(6)  It  is  possibly  in  order  to  ask  Mr.  Mor- 
ton: Is  it  the  business  of  Government  to 
make  an  artificial  price  for  gold  by  creat- 
ing an  artificial  demand  for  that  metal? 
Grover  Cleveland  and  his  distinguished 
collection  of  Cabinet  officers,  not  satisfied 
with  the  unlimited  demand  which  im- 
properly exists  at  our  Mints  for  the  metal 


12 


Bi-metalllsts  declare  that  “Gold  and 
silver  coined  together  In  unlimited  quan- 
tities at  a fixed  legal  ratio  will  oirculate 
together  and  so  enlarge  the  circulating 
medium.”  This  assertion  is  the  pith  of 
the  whole  contention  of  the  bi-metallist. 
But  600  years  of  civilized  experience 

firoves  it  to  be  without  foundation.  In 
666,  Charles  II  opened  the  English  mint 
to  the  free  coinage  of  gold  and  silver  In 
unlimited  quantities  and  without  any 
charge.  It  was  ordered  by  the  mint  in- 
dentures that  guineas  should  pass  cur- 
rent at  20  shillings;  but  they  were  never 
made  legal  tender  at  that  rate,  and  they 
were  allowed  to  pass  current  at  SUCH  A 
RATE  AS  THE  PUBLIC  CHOSE  TO 
RECEIVE  THEM!  Silver  was  the 
standard  unti,  and  guineas  soon  passed 
for  22  shillings,  ana  it  was  only  be- 
cause they  were  not  tied  up  in  a fixed 
legal  ratio  to  silver  that  they  circulated 
at  all.  If  it  had  been  attempted  to  have 
made  them  legal  tender  for  20  shillings, 
they  would  have  instantly  disappeared 
from  circulation.  The  silver  coins  became 
so  degraded  and  debased  that  guineas 


gold  alone,  have  in  addition  without  war- 
rant of  law  issued  $262,000,000  of  bonds, 
purchasing  herewith  gold  to  pay  obliga- 
tions which  are  legally  payable  in  silver  or 
gold  at  the  option  of  our  Government. 
Senator  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  corpora- 
tion lawyer  as  he  is,  and  therefore  for 
gold,  speaking  in  the  Senate  in  1886  stated: 
“It  may  be  that  I should  agree  with  the 
Senator  from  Kentucky,  I certainly  agree 
with  him  that  the  silver  coin  of  the  United 
States  is  just  as  good  a legal  tender  for 
every  bond  and  debt  of  the  United  States, 
that  does  not  say  gold  coin  exclusively, 
if  there  be  such  a one,  as  the  gold  is,  and 
so  far,  and  to  that  extent,  I am  just  as 
strong  a silver  man  as  my  friend  from 
Kentucky.” 

Grover  Cleveland,  violating  his  solemn 
oath  of  office,  follows  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  Israelites.  The  Bible  tells  us  that 
whilst  in  the  Wilderness  they  made  a 
golden  calf  and  worshipped  it,  but  we  also 
read  in  the  Sacred  Word  that  God  was 
angered  and  destroyed  the  golden  calf  and 
Moses  caused  the  gold  idolators  to  be  slain. 
T,he  farmers,  laborers,  business  men, 
miners  and  manufacturers  who  will  be 
taxed  to  pay  the  interest  and  principal  of 
the  bonds  issued  will  agree  with  the  Bible 
and  rise  up  and  destroy  the  golden  calf. 
A few  lines  further  on  in  his  letter,  Mr. 
Morton  essays  to  describe  what  we  bi- 
metallists seek.  He  declares  that  "his  as- 
sertion is  the  pith  of  the  whole  conten- 
tion of  the  bi-metallist.”  For  Mr.  Morton’s 
enightenment  I will  insert  Senator  Dan- 
iel’s masterly  summing-up  of  what  con- 
stitutes true  bi-metallism: 

“It  is  necessary  to  bi-metallism  that 
these  things  shall  be  established: 

“1.  That  a ratio  of  value  between  the 
two  metals  be  fixed  by  law. 

“2.  That  they  be  impartially  coined  at 
that  ratio. 

“3.  That  they  be  made  a legal  tender 
for  debts  and  taxes  impartially. 

“4.  That  they  be  impartially  collected 
and  disbursed  in  payments. 

"5.  That  the  more  plentiful  metal  be 
used  when  there  is  a scarcity  of  one  of 
them.” 


rose  to  30  shillings.  On  the  recoinage, 
Parliament  reduced  their  value  gradually 
by  several  treasury  warrants;  their  price 
was  finally  fixed  at  21  shillings  6 pence. 
Thus  the  bi-metallists  had  their  ideal 
system. 

Did  gold  and  silver  then  circulate  to- 
gether? 

Quite  the  reverse. 

All  the  good  silver  disappeared  as  soon 
as  it  was  issued  from  the  mints.  It  was 
like  pouring  water  into  a sieve.  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  showed  that  the  true  mar- 
ket value  of  the  guinea  was  only  20 
shillings  8 pence,  and  recommended  that 
it  be  reduced  to  21  shillings  by  way  of 
experiment,  and  it  might  afterward  be 
seen  if  any  further  reduction  were  ne- 
cessary. 

Parliament  acted  upon  Sir  Isaac’s  sug- 
gestion, and  in  1717  the  value  of  the  gui- 
nea wras  reduced  by  proclamation  to 
21  shillings.  In  1718,  Parliament  passed 
a resolution  that  no  further  changes 
should  be  made,  and  none  were  made  un- 
til 1816. 

Here  was  the  ideal  system  of  the  bi- 
metallists. The  mint  was  opened  to  all 
comers  for  the  free  coinage  of  gold  and 
silver,  without  any  charge,  at  the  fixed 
legal  rate  of  the  guinea  at  21  shillings, 
and  did  the  result  correspond  to  the  vati- 
cination of  the  bi-metallists?  Did  gold 
and  silver  circulate  together  at  the  legal 
ratio  ? Did  people  bring  their  gold  in 
large  quantities  to  be  coined  at  the  fixed 
legal  ratio?  It  was,  in  all  respects,  ex- 
actly the  contra r-v. 

The  guinea  being  overrated  bv  4 pence, 
drove  the  whole  of  the  good  silver  cut  of 
circulation.  During!  the  whole  of  the 
century  the  silver  in  circulation  was  noth- 
ing but  the  basest  trash.  No  one  brought 
silver  to  the  mint  to  be  coined.  What 
person  of  common  sense  would  bring  his 
silver  to  the  mint  to  be  coined  when 
silver  was  worth  12  pence  in  bullion  and 
was  reduced  by  coinage  to  the  value  of 
9 pence? 

The  master  of  the  British  Mint  testi- 
fied in  1816  that  during  the  who  e of  the 
fifty-six  years  of  the  reign  of  George 
III.  only  64,500  pounds  in  silver  were 
coined  at  the  mint.  It  was  in  1717  that 
the  custom  and  usage  of  merchants  es- 
tablished gold  as  the  sole  standard  of 
payment,  and  thus  England  became  prac- 
tically a gold-monometallic  country,  both 
for  all  internal  transactions  as  well  as  for 
the  foreign  exchanges,  though  the  effete 
words  of  bi-metallism  were  not  expunged 
from  the  statute-book  for  another  century. 
The  master  of  the  mint  declared,  in  1816, 
that  the  law  merely  established  a legal i7,ed 
system  which  had  been  adopted  by  publio 
opinion  since  1717. 

The  great  recoinage  of  1696,  effected 
when  England  was  involved  in  such  stu- 
pendous difficulties,  of  a’l  corns,  must 
be  held  to  be  one  of  the  most  heroic 
economical  reforms  ever  adopted.  It  cou  d 
not  have  been  effected  without  the  in- 
stitution of  the  Bank  of  England.  It  is 
said  to  have  cost  3.000.0CO  pounds,  and 
this  vast  sum  was  entirely  wasted  and 
thrown  away  from  the  want  of  knowledge 
of  the  rudimentary  law  of  economics. 

Take  now  the  period  which  bl-me+al- 
lists  themselves  state  as  “The  Go’ den  Ago 
of  Bi-metallism”— that  lapse  of  time  from 


13 


1803  to  1873  In  France.  After  multi- 
tudes of  changes  the  ratio  between  gold 
and  silver  was  fixed  in  France  at  about 
the  same  period  as  it  was  fixed  in  Eng- 
land, but  in  a reversed  way.  Silver  w<?s 
overrated  and  gold  was  underrated.  Gold 
disappeared  from  circulation  (7)  and 
France  became  practically  a silver-mono- 
metallic country  for  the  very  same  reason 
that  England  became  practically  a gold 
monometallic  country. 

In  1803  silver  was  declared  the  standard 
unit,  but  gold  and  silver  coins  were  freely 
coined  at  the  legal  ratio  of  1 to  15%. 
Here,  then,  again  was  the  ideal  system  of 
the  bi-metallists,  which  they  themselves 
cited  as  their  ‘ Golden  Age.’’  Did,  then, 
gold  and  silver  equally  circulate  together 
in  large  quantities  in  France  from  1803 
to  1873?  It  was  exactly  the  contrary,  and 
soon  after  1803  such  moneys  (guineas  of 
silver)  were  brought  into  France  as  the 
plunder  of  foreign  countries;  that  while 
the  legal  ratio  was  1 to  15%,  the  market 
ratio  fell  to  1 to  17.  From  1803  to  1850 
gold  was  constantly  at  a premium  in 
France.  The  inevitable  consequence  fol- 
lowed; there  was  no  gold  in  circulation, 
and  when  gold  was  wanted  a premium  had 
to  be  paid  for  It. 

In  1816  England  adopted  a single  gold 


standard,  with  silver  money  only  as  sub- 
sidiary and  limited  to  small  change. 
England  has  now  been  followed  by  Bel- 
gium, and  for  all  practical  purposes,  by 
France,  because  by  permitting  an  unlimit- 
ed issue  of  gold  in  which  her  foreign  ex- 
changes are  settled,  and  rigorously  re- 
stricting silver,  she  is  practically  mono- 
metallic, although  she  allows  5-frana 
pieces  to  be  unlimited  legal-tender  in  her 
internal  commerce,  and  although  the  il- 
lusory ratio  of  1514  to  1 still  remains  on 
her  statute-book,  it  is  practically  dead. 

In  addition  to  the  countries  named,  Den- 
mark, Norway  and  Sweden  adopted  a uni- 
form gold  standard  in  1876;  Finland 
adopted  the  single  gold  standard  in  1877; 
Japan  after  experimenting  disastrously 
with  bi-metallism,  adopted  a single  gold 
standard  in  1872,  with  silver  as  subsidiary 
currency  and  a legal  tender  for  about  $10, 
Roumania  has  adopted  the  single  gold 
standard.  Russia  has  been  accumulating 
large  quantities  of  gold  coin,  with  a hope 
of  resuming  business  on  a single  gold 
standard  In  the  future.  Egypt  has  adopted 
a single  gold  standard.  Now,  can  any 
reasonable  man  believe  that  all  these 
countries,  after  full  experience  for  cen- 
tmies  of  the  troubles  and  disturbances  of 
bi-metallism,  having  repudiated  it  and 


(7)  Mr.  Morton,  the  President’s  official 

advocate  of  gold,  again  falls  into  gross 
error.  In  1888  the  British  Royal  Commis- 
sion in  its  unanimous  report,  stated:  ‘‘So 
long  as  the  system  (the  free  coinage  of 
boui  metals  in  France)  was  in  force  not- 
withstanding the  changes  in  the  produc- 
tion and  use  of  the  precious  metals,  IT 
KEPT  THE  MARKET  PRICE  OF  SIL- 
VER APPROXIMATELY  STEADY  AT 
THE  RATIO  FIXED  BY  THE  (FRENCH) 
LAW  BETWEEN  THEM,  VIZ:  15%  TO  1.” 
As  half  of  tnese  commissioners  were 
Goldites,  it  is  in  order  for  Mr.  Morton 
to  withdraw  his  flagrantly  erroneous  as- 
sertions. The  following  quotation  shows 
even  more  clearly  the  dishonesty  of  Secre- 
tary Morton’s  statements:  “When  gdd 

was  produced  the  more  abundantly  the 
tendency  was  for  gold  to  come  into  France 
in  greater  quantity  than  silver.  When  sil- 
ver was  the  more  abundantly  produced 
the  tendency  for  more  silver  than  gold 
to  come  in  was  evident.  BUT  WE  DO 
NOT  FIND  ONE  METAL  GOING  OUT 
WITH  THE  OTHER  METAL  COMING 
INTO  FRANCE.’’— William  P.  St.  John, 
President  Merchants’  National  Bank  of 
New  York,  in  a speech  before  the  American 
Bankers’  Association  at  Atlanta,  October 
16th,  1895. 

Our  American  bankers  are  so  earnest 
in  their  advocacy  of  the  English  Gold- 
standard  of  money  and  banking  that  they 
forced  the  resignation  of  the  man  whos^ 
logical  arguments  for  American  silver  they 
could  not  and  cannot  refute. 

(8)  Mr.  Morton  is  merely  guilty  of  the 
alight  error  of  placing  the  cart  before 
the  horse.  During  the  past  23  years  the 
silver  currency  nations  of  the  earth  have 
been  unusually  prosperous,  have  made 
great  strides  forward  in  agriculture, 
manufacturing  and  commerce.  They  have 
been  practically  free  from  the  financial 
disasters  and  industrial  convulsions  which 
have  been  experienced  so  frequently  in 


all  Gold-standard  nations.  In  the  report 
of  the  English  gold  and  silver  commis- 
sion made  in  1888  after  three  years  of  ex- 
haustive consideration  of  the  subject  by 
twelve  of  the  most  eminent  English 
economists  the,  following  unequivocal 
statement  will  be  found: 

1.  That  the  depression  dated  from  the 
year  1873  or  thereabouts. 


2.  That  .it  extended  to  every  branch  of 
industry,  including  manufactures,  min- 
ing and  agriculture,  and  that  it  was  not 
confined  to  England,  but  had  been  experi- 
enced, to  a greater  or  less  degree,  in  all 
the  industrial  countries  of  the  world. 

8.  That  it  appeared  to  be  closely  con- 
nected with  the  serious  fall  in  general 
prices,  which,  even  then,  was  most  obser- 
vable, though  it  has  since  been  more 
strongly  marked,  resulting  in  diminution 
—in  some  cases  even  the  total  loss— of 
profits,  and  consequent  irregularity  of 
employment  for  the  wage  earners. 

4.  THAT  THE  DURATION  OF  THE 
DEPRESSION  HAS  BEEN  UNUSUAL 
AND  ABNORMAL. 


5.  That  no  adequate  cause  for  this  state 
of  things  was  observable,  unless  it  could 
be  found  in  SOME  GENERAL  DISLOCA- 
TION OF  VALUES,  CAUSED  BY  CUR- 
RENCY CHANGES,  and  which  would  be 
capable  of  affecting  an  area  equal  to  that 
which  the  depression  of  trade  covers 
The  same  Commission  said:  “NEITHER 
METAL  EXISTS  IN  SUFFICIENT  QUAN- 
TITIES TO  SERVE  AS  A SOLE  STAND- 
ARD WITHOUT  CAUSING  SUCH  A 
CHANGE  IN  THE  LEVEL  OF  PRICES 
AS  TO  AMOUNT  TO  A COMMERCIAL 
AND  FINANCIAL  REVOLUTION-’’ 

These  impartial  statements  made  re- 
garding the  condition  of  England  and  all 
other  Gold-standard  nations  of  the  earth 
may  serve  to  refresh  Secretary  Morton’* 
memory  regarding  “the  perfect  safety  found 
by  all  countries  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  take  refuge  in  gold-monome- 
tallism." 


14 


adopted  gold-monometallism,  that  they 
Tvill  be  moved  to  abandon  it,  and  revert 
to  the  exploded  chimera  of  bi-metallism  at 
the  frothy  rhetoric  and  baseless  assertions 
of  its  advocates? 

Bl-metallists  say  that  the  abandonment 
of  bi-metallism  caused  financial  troubles 
In  some  countries,  but  that  is  exactly  the 
reverse  of  the  truth.  All  the  countries 
which  were  fortunate  enough  to  take 
refuge  in  gold-monometallism  before  the 
terrific  downfall  in  the  prices  of  silver 
during  recent  years  have  found  perfect 
safety  (8);  but  in  countries  like  the  Uni- 
ted States,  which  have  been  long  the 
paradise  of  currency  vagarists,  and  in 
Countries  like  India,  which  from  the  first 
adopted  the  wrong  metal  as  her  single 
standard,  and  lost  the  grand  opportunity 
which  she  had  in  1864  of  retracing  her 
error  and  establishing  a single  gold  stand- 
ard on  a sound  basis,  have  been  very 
much  disturbed  and  Injured  commercially. 

If  states  are  endowed  with  personal 
feelings,  those  which  have  embraced  the 
mono-metallic  faith  would  be  filled  with 
that  cynical  Joy  which  the  poet  tells  us 
those  who  are  safe  on  land  feel  when 
they  see  others  tossed  about  on  tempes- 
tuous waves;  not,  indeed,  that  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  see  others  afflicted,  but  be- 
cause it  is  delightful  to  see  evils  from 
which  you  are  yourself  exempt.  But  noth- 
ing is  more  sweet  than  to  hold  lofty  and 
serene  positions  well  fortified  by  the  learn- 
ing of  the  wise,  from  which  you  may  look 
down  upon  others  and  see  them  wandering 
all  abroad  from  the  right  way.  Monometal- 
lic nations  hold  those  lofty  and  serene 
positions  well  fortified  by  the  learning  ot 
the  wise,  while  bimetallic  states,  still 
struggling  In  the  grasp  of  the  octopus  of 
the  bl-metallists,  are. 

"Tossed  on  a perilous  ocean 

Which  clouds  overshadow  and  billows 
deform." 

But,  having  given  you  the  above  from 
Henry  Dunning  MacLeod,  I will  not  fur- 
ther trespass  upon  my  own  time  and  your 
patience.  I hope  that  you  may  be  instru- 
mental in  “turning  on  the  light,"  so  that 
your  fellow  citizens  will  see  that  the  mere 
denominational  rise  in  the  prices  of  com- 
modities and  wages  can  by  no  possibility 
secure  for  them  what  you  say  they  de- 
sire— fairer  gold  prices  for  their  products. 
Moreover,  I trust  you  may  keep  con- 
stantly before  those  whom  you  would  in- 
struct the  fact  that  the  laws  of  economics 
are  as  unyielding  and  as  inexorable  in 
their  operations  as  the  laws  of  nature.  A 
statute  passed  by  the  State  of  Pennsylva- 
nia declaring  the  law  of  gravitation  shall 
be  inoperative  when  innocent  children  walk 
off  of  the  roofs  of  houses,  and  that  they 
therefore  shall  descend  lightly  like  feath- 
ers, unharmed,  to  the  earth  below,  would 
be  as  absurd  as  inoperative.  But  such  a 
statute  w'ould  be  just  as  effective  as  to 
results  as  a law  declaring  that  16  ouncos 
of  silver  are  worth  1 ounce  of  gold,  when 
In  the  markets  of  the  world  to-day  it  re- 
quires 35  ounces  of  silver  to  buy  one  ounce 
of  gold.  Law  cannot  create  value  in  metals 
any  more  than  it  can  in  real  estate  ana 
portable  commodities.  If  the  law-making 
power  can  create  values  at  will,  then  there 
Is  no  need  for  further  human  effort  or 
larger  development  of  human  intellect 


and  skill.  Prosperity  can  be  enacted,  thrift 
can  be  instituted  by  statute,  farms  culti- 
vated by  joint  resolutions,  and  harvests 
provided  for  by  preambles.  If  legislation 
can  evolve  values  out  of  vacuums  it  can 
create  human  souls.  Yours  respectfully, 

J.  STERLING  MORTON. 


Out  of  all  of  Mr.  Morton’s  assertions  and 
the  voluminous  historical  references  which 
he  has  made,  one  fact  stands  out  very 
prominently.  He  admits  that  prior  to  1873 
that  whilst  the  mints  of  nation  or  of 
nations  coined  gold  principally,  those  of 
other  nations  were  at  the  same  time  coin- 
ing silver.  Thus  at  all  times  in  the  past 
both  silver  and  gold  have  equally  been 
accorded  unlimited  coinage  privileges  and 
were  thus  both  of  them  fully  utilized  by 
our  own  and  European  nations  as  unlim- 
ited coinage  metals.  There  has  never  been 
sufficient  of  both  gold  and  silver  in  the 
world  to  properly  perform  the  monetary 
function,  and  now,  instead  of  remonetizing 
silver  and  thus  restoring  the  old-tinai 
ratio  of  the  two  metals,  Mr.  Morton  would 
have  us  discard  silver,  entirely.  The  rem- 
edy he  proposes  would  be  equivalent  to 
advocating  the  prohibition  of  the  use  of 
wheat  as  food  because  certain  nations  used 
more  of  yellow  corn  and  others  were  satis- 
fied t<5  use  wheat.  Does  not  the  most 
ignorant  and  illogical  man  perceive  that 
this  course  would  but  serve  to  depreciate 
the  value  of  wheat  and  enhance  that  of 
yellow  corn?  The  world  owes  the  seeming 
heartless  financiers  of  England  upward! 
of  $10,000,000,000,  all  payable  in  her  so- 
called  measure  of  yellow  gold.  English 
diplomacy  is  never  idle.  It  continually 
seeks  to  appreciate  or  Increase  the  value 
of  gold.  This  is  a fair  specimen  of  the 
sense  of  honor  of  English  financiers.  They 
double  the  value  of  all  the  debts  due  them 
by  doubling  the  purchasing  power  of  gold 
over  silver.  There  is  a subtle  series  of 
tricks  in  this  diabolical  money  tangle.  The 
remonetization  of  silver  will  not  out  in 
half  the  purchasing  power  of  our  American 
dollars  paid  to  our  workingmen,  but  it  will 
cut  in  half  the  amount  of  wheat  and  cotton 
which  England  buys  at  present  for  a 
fixed  weight  of  gold.  The  Public  Ledger 
of  Philadelphia  is  an  ardent  advo;ate  of  the 
gold  standard,  but  there  is  a point  in  the 
following  quotation  from  its  editorial  col- 
umns of  September  15,  1895,  which  our 
citizens  may  well  give  thought  to:  "The 

cruelty  of  the  Turk  towards  his  helpless 
Christian  subjects  has  long  been  a crying 
scandal,  for  whioh  the  selfish  indifference 
of  Great  Britain  is  largely  responsible. 
Had  there  been  ‘money  in  it’  England 
might  be  expected  to  have  long  since 
intervened,  but  with  the  profitable  re- 
lations, for  her,  existing  between  Great 
Britain  and  Turkey,  the  English  have 
handled  tho  subject  very  gingerly." 

There  are  timid  voters,  who,  whilst 
favoring  silver,  think  we  ought  to  wait  for 
England  to  help  us.  International  bi- 
metallism is  the  term  they  apply  to  this 
political  snare.  Possibly  the  Rothschild 
capitalistic  syndicate,  which  controls  the 
financial  policy  of  England,  perceives  that 
there  is  "money  in  it”  for  them  when  it 
comes  to  gold  buying  more  silver.  Is  it 
not  time  for  us  to  see  that  there  is 
"money  in  it"  for  our  Nation  to  cut  in 


15 


half  the  unjustly  large  quantities  of  our 
sil-er,  wheat  and  cotton  which  England 
at  present  unfairly  secures  for  a fixed 
weight  of  her  gold?  If  it  Is  English  econo- 
mic authorities  which  Mr.  Morton  craves 
I will  supply  him  with  a few  who  differ 
most  radically  with  his  baseless  dogmatic 
assertions. 

"Gold  and  silver  owe  almost  the  whole 
of  their  value  to  the  fact  that  they  can 
be  converted  into  and  used  as  money. 
If  gold  and  silver  were  absolutely  ex- 
cluded from  the  currenoy  of  the  world 
their  value  would  be  greatly  reduced,  if 
It  did  not  almost  entirely  cease  to  exist; 
and  if  either  gold  or  silver  were  largely 
excluded  from  the  currency  of  the  world 
the  value  of  the  metal  so  excluded  would 
experience  a very  great  fall.”— Sir  David 
Barbour  (in  his  work  on  Political  Econo- 
my.) 

‘ The  fundamental  cause  of  value  in  the 
precious  metals  is  their  use  as  currency.” 
— Theobold  Rogers  (Professor  Political 
Economy,  Oxford  University,  England.) 

"No  doubt  if  gold  and  silver  were  de- 
monetized in  every  country,  metallio 
money  would  lose  the  greater  part  of  its 
value.  We  must  not  deceive  ourselves  as 
to  this  matter,  and  the  present  fall  in 
silver,  caused  by  its  demonetization  in 
some  countries,  only  too  fully  proves  the 
fact  "—Prof.  Glide,  (Professor  Political 
Boonomy,  France.) 

"It  is  in  fact  the  peculiar  qualities  which 
render  gold  so  useful  as  a currency  that 
give  It  the  greater  portion  of  its  value.” 
— Macleod,  (Elements  of  Banking.) 

"Gold  and  silver  have  real  and  artificial 
values— real  and  natural,  as  for  gilding, 
for  use  In  surgical  appliances,  forks, 
spoons  and  other  things;  artificial,  for 
money  for  circulating  mediums.  * * * 
“This  artificial  value  is  much  greater 
than  the  real  (value).  If  some  substitute 
for  gold  and  silver  were  found  which 
cculd  be  used  more  advantageously  as 
money  and  displace  them,  their  exchange- 
able values  would  be  vastly  less  than  at 
present.  That  Is,  If  an  ounce  of  gold  ex- 
changes for  2 quarters  of  wheat  now 
anywhere,  It  would,  If  It  ceased  to  be 
Used  as  money,  exchange  for  much  less— 
how  much  Is  beyond  speculation.  "—Lord 
Bramwell  (London  Times,  May  7,  1881.) 


immensely  greater  than  the  annual  pro- 
duction or  consumption.*’— Prof.  Jevons. 

‘Alterations,  therefore,  in  the  cost  of 
production  of  the  precious  metals  do  not 
act  upon  the  value  of  money  except  Just 
In  proportion  as  they  Increase  or  diminish 
its  quantity,  which  cannot  be  said  of  any 
other  commodity.”— John  Stuart  Mill. 

‘‘Cost  of  production,  so  important  and 
decisive  as  to  the  value  of  commodities 
,yitb  money,  is,  in  the  case  of 
L-  ltS?1f  °L  n?  Account  whatever.’* 
England.  ’ ‘ A”  °Xf0rd  Uni™sity, 

' J b?  value  of  gold  and  silver  Is  almost 
entirely  due  to  their  use  as  money  ajud 
consequents  the  relative  value  0Y  g“d 
and  silver  depends  upon  the  extent  to 
which  the  different  nations  of  the  world 
nfn™1161*?  metal3  as  currency.  If  one 
after  Another  decided  to  demone- 
tize  sliver  and  to  sell  the  silver  contained 
tfvifv  °urrenc3r-  value  of  silver  rela- 
tively to  commodities  and  still  more  so 

10  gold’  could  b9  mad®  to 

Int  value.Very  1 fraction  of  its  Pres- 

oth!r  hand>  If  the  nations  of  the 
world  demonetized  gold,  the  value  of  gold 

fan.“1Ver  W0Ul<1  experlence  » 

V}n  sh°rt-  w,®  see  that  the  demand  for 
f°ld  ■11J«r  3 due  mainly  to  the  extent 
to  which  the  legislatures  of  the  different 
countries  decide  to  use  these  metals  as 
money,  and  therefore  their  relative  value 
t _ia,  continue  to  be  regulated  by 

legislation.  ’ — Sir  David  Barbour. 


"It  Is  because  the  will  of  the  legislator 
or,  If  it  is  preferred,  the  agreement  of 
men,  has  chosen  gold  and  silver  as  money 
that  these  metals  have  acquired  the  larger 
part  of  their  value,  and  they  would  lose 
It  as  soon  as  the  agreement  or  this  law 
happened  to  cease  to  exist.  Aristotle,  too 
had  Perceived  this  very  dearly.  Says  he 
in  the  Ethics,  book  Vi  'It  was  through 
a voluntary  agreement  that  money  be- 
°Atn*  the  instrument  of  exchange  It  is 
oalled  nomisma  (from  nomos,  law)  because 
morey  Is  not  a natural  product,  but  ex- 
ists only  through  law,  and  it  lie,  with 
U3  to  change  it  and  rob  it  of  its  utility  a.a 
we  will.  — Sir  David  Barbour  (in  hia  work 
on  Political  Economy.)  1 *ork 

rfurn™  Fnat  prl“cIPla  of  cost  of  pro- 
duction fails  us,  because  in  the  case  of 
1,<?urable  commodities  as  gold  and  sil- 
ver the  accumulated  stook  on  hand  is 


Washington,  D.  C..  June  22,  1896. 
Edward  Stern,  Esq., 
t-w  P,«?‘  Box  965>  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

i«hflSir:~YourJeiter  of  2&tb  instant 
Is  before  me,  and  I hasten  to  say  that 

"“V  ««  intend  nor  prepare  my 
first  letter  to  you  for  publication  since 
£«nivhnV8  Publisbed  lb.  together  with  you? 
reply  as  you  intimate,  you  are  likewise  at 
liberty  to  publish  my  second  letter  To  yo£ 
provided  you  follow  it  with  a copy  of  your 
letter  of  June  20th,  which  I am  now  be- 

ness?  answerinCg88lVe  pollteness  and  ^ank- 

nwL  couraffeous  manner  in  which  you 
charge  me,  by  implication,  with  having 
inner  views  and  perceptions”  is  very 

* your  Th8  °h*sUz|ns  .tyll 

or  your  epistle  when  you  say;  "You  have 

oatl\  t0  uPhold  and  defend  the 
Constitution  of  our  forefathers,  eto.  ’*  anl 
daldactdo  discourse  in  which  you 
Indulge  as  to  what  the  Constitution  da- 

lSir\ ^u^shami  “2 

the*  ^aSo^s^ a Uon^of 

Ue7To,n|neadid  ^ "..“thS! 

IHISM 


16 


me  that  I cannot  harbor  from  this  time  on 
any  “hidden  unconstitutional  policy.’’ 

In  closing  you  remark  that  my  lengthy 
epistle  of  the  19th,  which  was  originally 
intended  only  for  your  consideration,  does 
not  mention  or  review  the  argument  ad- 
vanced in  your  letter  of  the  18th  instant, 
and  in  this  you  are  probably  correct,  owing, 
no  doubt,  to  my  stupidity  in  not  discover- 
ing in  the  said  epistle  any  argument  to 
answer. 

Hoping  that  you  will  continue  your  di- 
dactic discourses  upon  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  dwell  at  length  on 
Section  10  of  Article  I,  and  likewise  on 
Section  8 of  the  same  article,  so  that  every 
one  in  the  country  may  become  as  famil- 
iar with  the  fundamental  law  of  this 
great  republic  as  you  evidently  are,  I re- 
main, Very  respectfully  yours, 

J.  STERLING  MORTON. 

The  frolicsome  raillery  and  blithesome 
sarcasm  of  our  profound  financier,  the  pres- 
ent incumbent  of  the  office  of  the  Secretary 
of  Agriculture,  is  somewhat  unseemly 
when  we  come  to  consider  the  constitu- 
tional aspect  of  the  money  question.  The 
constitution  has  undergone  no  change  In 
the  clauses  referring  to  this  subject  since 
the  time  of  Daniel  Webster,  our  great- 
est constitutional  expounder,  commented 
as  follows  thereon:  “I  am  clearly  of  the 
opinion  that  neither  Congress  nor  any 
other  authority  can  legally  demonetize 
either  gold  or  silver.”  I would  respect- 
fully direct  the  attention  of  our  citizens 
to  this  old  time,  calm,  unbiased  opinion 
of  Daniel  Webster,  a statesman  without  a 
peer  in  constitutional  lore.  Mr.  Webster 
made  still  another  fearfully  revelant  com- 
ment. These  are  his  words:  “The  com- 
mand to  Congress  is  to  coin  money,  not 
destroy  it,  to  create  legal  tender  money 
for  the  use  of  the  people,  and  the  grant 
of  authority  to  create  money  cannot  be 
construed  to  mean  authority  to  destroy 
money.” 

Passing  from  the  ablest  expounder  of 
our  Constitution  whose  views  upon  this 
subject  were  shared  to  the  fullest  extent 
by  James  G.  Blaine  and  many  others  of 
our  truest  statesmen  of  the  past  and  pres- 
ent we  will  consult  the  founders  and  fram- 
ers of  it. 

“To  annul  the  use  of  either  of  the  met- 
als as  money  is  to  abridge  the  quantitv 
of  circulating  medium  and  is  liable  to  all 
the  objections  which  arise  from  a compar- 
ison of  the  benefits  of  a full,  with  the  evils 
of  a scanty,  circulation.” — Alexander  Ham- 
ilton. 

“I  concur  with  you  that  the  unit  must 
stand  on  both  metals.” — Thomas  Jefferson 
in  a letter  to  Alexander  Hamilton. 

The  sham  statesmen  of  the  present  era, 
who  minister  unto  the  golden  calf  of  mo- 
nopoly, the  John  Shermans,  Grover  Cleve- 
lands, Secretary  Carlisles  and  Mortons, 
all  interpet  the  provisions  of  the  basic  law 
of  our  Union  in  a manner  vastly  different 
from  the  framers  and  upholders  of  It. 

As  to  “who  was  authorized  to  speak  for 
all  the  Democratic  voters  from  Maine  to 
Texas,”  it  is  daily  (July  1896,)  becoming 
more  apparent  that  though  a private 
citizen  more  f*Jly  voh'Y'i  the  sentiments 
of  American  voters  than  our  gold  stand- 
ard bond  issuing  President  and  his  galaxy 
«f  brilliant  cabinet  officers— each  of  whom 


failed  to  carry  the  delegates  of  his  own 
State  for  gold.  Party  lines  are  down 
Patriotism  is  to  the  front.  The  majority 
of  the  members  and  directors  of  our 
bi-metallic  association  were  life-long  pro- 
tective tariff  Republicans.  Amongst  them 
men  of  the  standing  of  James  Dobson, 
the  multi-millionaire  manufacturer.  Mr. 
Dobson,  past  and  present,  is  a most  active 
worker.  Write  to  me  for  copies  of  his 
speeches.  They  are  most  interesting  read- 
ing, coming  as  they  do  from  a leading 
manufacturer  of  our  city.  Another  of  our 
directors,  Wharton  Barker,  has  always 
been  a power  in  Republican  political  cir- 
cles. both  State  and  National.  He  was 
the  original  Harrison  man  in  1888;  Henry 
Carey  Baird,  the  noted  economic  writer 
and  nephew  of  the  founder  of  The  Ameri- 
can System  of  Protective  duties. 

Dr.  Wm.  Carroll,  whose  life  has  been 
consecrated  to  efforts  in  behalf  of  suffer- 
ing Ireland,  is  also  one  of  our  board.  Dr. 
Gilbert  E.  Palen.  of  Starkey  and  Palen, 
of  compound-oxygen  fame;  Dr.  Robert 
Ellis  Thompson,  President  of  the  Cen- 
tral High  School  of  Philadelphia,  former- 
ly of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
drafted  our  declaration  of  principles.  Dr. 
Thompson’s  position  upon  the  tariff  is 
well  known  through  his  noted  works  upon 
economic  subjects.  These  men  and  many 
others  realize  that  silver  is  the  over- 
whelming issue  of  this  campaign,  and  be- 
fore It  old  party  lines  are  being  demor- 
alized very  rapidly. 

“By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.” 
England  has  had  a mono-metallic  gold 
standard  currency  since  1816.  Are  the 
fruits  of  such  a character  as  would  tempt 
we  Americans  to  imitation?  I will  grant 
that  the  favored  few  of  England  live 
amidst  the  greatest  luxury,  but  what  is 
the  condition  of  the  great  masses  of  the 
people,  of  the  English  farmers,  laborers, 
miners  and  factory  operatives? 

General  William  Booth,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Sal-vation  Army,  in  his  work 
entitled  “In  Darkest  England,”  states: 

“I  sorrowfully  admit  that  it  would  be 
Utopian  in  our  present  social  arrangement 
to  dream  of  attaining  for  every  honest 
Englishman  a jail  standard  of  all  the  nec- 
essaries of  life.  Some  time,  perhaps,  we 
may  venture  to  hope  that  every  nonest 
worker  on  English  soil  will  always  bo  as 
warmly  clad,  as  healthily  housed,  and  as 
regularly  fed  as  our  criminal  convicts— 
but  that  is  not  yet.  Neither  is  it  possible 
to  hope  for  many  years  to  come  that  hu- 
man beings  generally  will  be  as  well  cared 
for  as  horses.  * * * Darkest  England  may 
be  said,  then,  to  have  a population  about 
equal  to  that  of  Scotland.  Three  million 
men,  women  and  children — a vast  despair- 
ing multitude,  in  a condition  nominally 
free,  but  really  enslaved — these  it  is 
whom  we  have  to  save. 

“It  is  a large  ordeY.  England  emanci- 
pated her  negroes  sixty  years  ago  at  a 
cost  of  £40,000,000  sterling,  and  has  never 
ceased  boasting  about  it  sinoe.  But  at 
our  own  doors,  from  Plymouth  to  Peter- 
head, stretches  this  waste  continent  of 
humanity— three  million  beings  who  are 
er slaved— some  of  them  to  taskmasters  as 
merciless  as  any  West  Indian  overseer, 
all  of  them  in  destitution  and  despair.” 

"The  proportions  which  pauperism  at- 


17 


tained  among  the  old  were  not  easily 
ascertained,  but  as  the  clergyman  of  a 
large  parish  he  had  examined  the  regis- 
ters of  death  in  his  charge,  and  had 
found  that  of  those  parishioners  who  in 
eleven  years  had  died  over  60  years  of 
age,  87  per  cent  had  died  in  the  receipt 
of  pauper  relief.  Moreover,  at  his  request, 
seventy  or  eighty  other  clergymen  had 
made  similar  inquiries  and  their  returns 
placed  the  proportion  at  45  per  cent. 
These  returns  related  to  all  classes  all 
over  England,  and  if  the  number  of  those 
who  provided  for  themselves  were  de- 
ducted, what  lesson  did  we  learn  but  the 
horrible  lesson  that,  roughly  speaking, 
half  our  working  people,  if  they  reached 
60  years  of  age,  were  doomed  to  die  as 
paupers.”— Canon  Blackley,  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

‘‘At  the  present  time,  of  the  work- 
ing class,  one  in  two.  if  he  reaches 
the  age  of  60,  is  almost  certain  to  come 
upon  the  poor  law  for  his  subsist- 
ence. • • • It  may  well  be  that  some 
of  these  deserve  their  fate;  they  may  have 
brought  to  it  by  intemperance  or  miscon- 
duct of  some  kind  or  another.  But 
nobody  will  persuade  me  that  that  is 
true  of  all  of  them  (cheers),  or  even  of 
the  larger  portion  of  them.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  one  out  of  two  of  the  indus- 
trial population  of  this  Kingdom  have 
done  anything  to  deserve  the  fate  which 
under  existing  circumstances  is  inevitably 
in  store  for  them.  (Cheers.”) — The  Right 
Hon  Joseph  Chamberlain,  M.  P.,  Bir- 
mingham, England. 

‘‘Though  England  is  deafened  with  spin- 
ning wheels,  her  people  have  not  clothes; 
though  she  is  black  with  the  digging  of 
fuel,  they  die  of  cold;  and  though  she 
as  sold  her  soul  for  grain,  they  die  of 
unger.” — John  Ruskin. 

‘‘Never  was  there  such  an  industrial  war 
in  England.  NEVER  WAS  THERE  SUCH 
DESTITUTION,  and  never  SUCH  A MASS 
OF  INFLAMMABLE  DISCONTENT  in  the 
vory  heart  and  center  of  the  land.  Relief 
Committees  and  soup  kitchens  are  unceas- 
ingly at  work.  Throughout  the  strike 
areas  bread  is  distributed  and  fought  .or 
by  the  famishing  men  and  women,  and 
gardens  and  orchards  robbed  in  the  frantic 
search  for  food.  HUNGRY  CHILDREN 
ATTEND  THE  SCHOOLS  TOO  WEAK  TO 
LEARN,  and  women  tramp  from  village 
to  village  begging  for  money  or  bread.” — 
London  Daily  News,  September  7,  1893. 

And  the  great  heart  of  Mrs.  Browning- 
moved  by  the  sight  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  little  hands  prematurely  set  to 
labor  to  aid  in  piling  up  the  riches  which 
enable  the  American  admirers  of  the  gold 
Standard  to  state  that  Great  Britain  is  a 
rich  nation— what  does  it  say?  Hear  the 
pathetic  appeal  of  a woman  to  the  stony 
hearts  of  the  classes  for  whose  benefit 
those  riches  are  accumulated: 

"Do  ye  hear  the  children  weeping,  Oh, 
my  brothers, 

Ere  the  sorrow  comes  with  years? 

They  are  leaning  their  young  heads  against 
their  mothers, 

And  THAT  cannot  stop  their  tears. 

The  young  lambs  are  bleating  in  the 
meadows ; 


The  young  birds  are  chirping  in  the  nest. 

The  young  fawns  are  playing  with  the 
shadows ; 

The  young  flowers  are  blowing  towards 
the  West— 

But  the  young,  young  children,  Oh,  my 
brothers, 

They  are  weeping  bitterly; 

They  are  weeping  in  the  playtime  of  the 
others, 

In  the  country  of  the  free.” 


Philadelphia,  June  26,  1895. 

J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq., 

Washington,  D.  C. : 

Dear  Sir: — Your  letter  of  the  22d  instant 
has  been  received.  As  soon  as  you  produce 
jr'our  authority  for  stating  that  the  Amer- 
ican people  should  have  but  one  money 
metal,  viz.,  English  gold,  I will  hunt 
through  my  fireproof  and  produce  my  au- 
thority to  speak  for  bi-metallism  in  the 
nrxne  of  the  Democratic  voters  from  Maine 
to  Texas.  Your  letter  of  the  19th  instant, 
of  which  you  now  so  kindly  permit  pub- 
lication, is  very  brilliant  as  a glittering 
literary  production,  but  it  is  not  to  tne 
point  at  all.  Have  no  doubt  your  next 
letter  will  correct  this  radical  defect. 
Amongst  your  glittering  generalities  a few 
important  errors  creep  in.  You  state  that 
in  France  during  the  period  from  1803  to 
1873,  at  times  the  market  value  of  gold 
to  silver  was  1 to  17.  If  you  will  specify 
dates  and  we  find  that  you  are  accurate  in 
your  statements,  I will  subscribe  on$ 
pound  of  silver  to  the  treasury  of  your 
gold  bankers.  You  also  state  that  during 
the  above  period  the  currency  of  France 
was  silver  alone.  Will  you  kindly  explain 
from  what  sources  France  procured  the 
$1,000,000,000  gold  indemnity  exacted  of 
her  after  her  late  unpleasantness  with  Ger- 
many? Did  the  people  of  France  contrib- 
ute any  considerable  amount  of  this  gold 
from  their  savings?  Until  your  personal 
letter  of  the  19th  instant  came  to  hand, 
was  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  blissful 
states  of  prosperity  existed  <n  gold-mo- 
nometallic countries.  In  your  own  words 
these  countries  ‘‘hold  thoso  lofty  and  se- 
rene positions  well  fortified  by  the  learn- 
ing of  the  wise,  etc.”  As  soon  as  knowledge 
of  these  facts  is  widely  disseminated  I ex- 
pect to  see  a vast  tide  of  immigration  from 
our  shores  to  the  blissful  climes  you  so 
vividly  picture,  for  here  in  our  country,  I 
regret  to  say,  we  see  degradation,  poverty 
and  suffering  on  every  side.  In  your  next 
letter  kindly  name  me,  if  you  can,  one 
Gold-standard  nation  whose  farmers  are 
rot  suffering  intensely  and  clamoring  for 
relief? 

Can  you  name  one  Gold-standard  nation 
which  has  made  as  much  progress  in  man- 
ufacturing industries  as  the  leading  na- 
tions which  have  had  an  unlimited  coinage 
of  silver  during  the  past  twenty-two 
years? 

Do  you  deny  that  silver  alone  is  the 
only  money  metal  used  by  over  900,000,000 
human  beings? 

Do  you  deny  that  the  purchasing  and 
debt-discharging  power  of  coined  or  un- 
coined silver  has  remained  practically 
without  variation  In  all  silver-currency 
countries? 

Do  you  deny  that  it  therefore  necessarily 


18 


follows  that  as  gold  buys  more  and  more 
silver,  every  gold  dollar  and  every  dollar 
of  any  Gold-standard  currency  buys  more 
and  more  of  all  the  products  of  silver- 
currency  countries? 

Do  you  deny  that  for  the  last  twenty- 
two  years  more  and  more  of  wheat  and 
cotton  have  been  and  are  being  raised 
In  silver-currency  countries,  and,  there- 
fore, as  a given  weight  of  gold  buys  more 
Silver  it  likewise  must  purchase  more  of 
these  great  staples  ? 

Do  you  deny  that  as  the  prices  of  wheat 
and  cotton  decline  our  farmers  and  plant- 
ers are  being  reduced  to  the  most  de- 
plorable condition  (9)? 

Do  you  deny  that  92  per  cent,  of  ail 
the  products  of  our  mines,  factories  and 
forges  are  consumed  at  home? 

Do  you  deny  that  it  is  therefore  im- 
possible for  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
who  toll  in  the  industrial  occupations  to 
expect  a permanent  or  true  revival  of 
prosperity  until  the  financial  position  of 
our  millions  of  farmei-3  and  planters  Im- 
proves? 

Do  you  deny  that  so  long  as  the  market 
value  of  millions  of  our  farms  is  steadily 
declining  we  can  expect  no  permanent 
return  of  confidence,  this  regardless  of  u»e 
extent  to  which  we  add  to  our  indebted- 
ness abroad  by  the  sale  of  our  securities? 

Do  you  deny  that  our  manufacturers 
cannot  be  permanently  prosperous  unless 
our  agriculturists  are  prosperous? 

Do  you  dare  to  assert  that  our  fanners 
and  planters  have  been,  or  are,  enjoying 
prosperity  ? 

Do  you  deny  that  the  principal  and  In- 
terest of  our  Indebtedness  abroad  must 
be  met  largely  by  the  export  of  our  staple 
farm  products,  and  that  at  the  low  prices 
Which  have  ruled,  and  are  ruling.  It  Is 
extremely  doubtful  If  we  are  meeting  the 
Interest,  let  alone  reducing  the  principal, 
of  this  debt? 

In  v0ur  letter  of  18th  you  state  your 
belief 'in  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  sup- 
ply and  demand  In  governing  the  prices 
of  all  commodities.  Is  not  this  admis- 
sion in  direct  conflict  to  the  statement  In 
your  letter  of  17th,  that  "neither  the 
United  States  nor  the  law-making  powers 
of  the  globe  concentred  can  establish 
and  maintain  a legal  ratio  which  Is  very 
much  different  from  the  commercial  ratio . 
The  commercial  ratio  of  gold  and  silver 
at  present  moment  is  1 to  35.  It  may  go 
lower  still.”  „ , . . . - 

Did  not  the  closing  of  the  mints  of  m- 


(9)  In  his  Memphis  gold-standard  speech 
John  G.  Carlisle  admits  "that  it  is  an 
axiom  in  trade  that  the  prices  of  export- 
able products  are  fixed  in  the  foreign  mar- 
ket where  the  surplus  is  sold  and  fixed  in 
the  currency  of  the  country.  Every  ciu- 
zeu  can,  aUer  reading  this  admission  of 
Mr  Carlisle’s,  perceive  the  vast  interests 
which  we  as  a Nation  have  in  cutting 
in  half  the  large  number  °f  ounces  of 
silver  that  a given  weight  of  gold  has 
wrongfully  purchased  for  some  years,  in 
this  manner  only  will  our  farmers  and 
planters  secure  the  fair  prices  for  their 
enormous  crops  of  exportable  products. 
Unless  the  30,000,000  of  human  beings  who 
dwell  upon  the  soil  of  our  Nation  prosper, 
our  country  cannot. 


dia,  June,  1893,  depreciate  silver  20  to  23 
per  cent,  as  compared  with  gold  (decreas- 
ed demand  for  silver)?  Would  not  the 
re-opening  of  the  mints  of  India  pro- 
duce the  reverse  effect  (increased  demand 
for  silver)? 

Under  these  circumstances  do  you  still 
seek  to  maintain  the  accuracy  of  the 
statement  from  your  letter  of  17th  in- 
stant, quoted  above?  Either  you  have 
made  a gross  misstatement  or  you  make 
the  power  of  India  more  potent  than  that 
of  combined,  concentrated  Christenuoml 
Which  horn  of  this  dilemma  do  you  care 
to  take  hold  of?  Most  respectfully  yours, 
EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  O.  Box  956,  Philadelphia. 

"It  Is  not  too  soon  to  provide  by  every 
possible  means  that  as  few  as  possible 
shall  be  without  a little  portion  of  land. 
The  small  land  holders  are  the  most  prec- 
ious part  of  the  State." — Thomas  Jefferson, 
one  of  the  ablest  of  American  states- 
men, the  founder  of  that  Democracy  which 
no  citizens  neer  shame  to  avow.  The  De- 
mocracy of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  Re- 
publicanism of  Abraham  Lincoln  are  inden- 
tlcal  in  character  and  aims! — 

"Labor  is  prior  to  and  independent  of 
capital.  Capital  Is  only  the  fruit  of  labor, 
and  could  never  have  existed  if  labor  had 
not  first  existed.  Labor  is  the  superior  of 
capital,  and  deserves  much  the  highest 
consideration.” — Abraham  Lincoln. 

To-day  the  capiiistic  newspapers  would 
howl  our  martyred  President  down  as  an 
anarchist.  The  following  extract  shows  to 
what  an  extent  the  welfare  of  labor  oc- 
cupies their  minds: 

“J.  Pierpont  Morgan  stated  that  the 
adoption  or  the  goiu  stancard  by  rue 
United  States  would  satisfy  European  cap- 
italists and  most  American.' — me  Phila- 
delphia Press,  Goldite  organ,  July  12,  1896. 

“From  1880  to  1890  the  number  of  farm- 
ers tilling  their  own  farms  in  Pennsylva- 
nia decreased  11,000;  in  tho  same  period  the 
number  of  tenant  farmers  increased  9,000.’’ 
—Statistics  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

"Everybody  knows  that  the  successful 
perpetuation  of  the  American  people  is 
based  and  possible  only  upon  an  intelli- 
gent and  fecund  agriculture." — J.  Sterling 
Merton  (before  he  was  afflicted  .with  tue 
gold  mania). 

At  a meeting  of  the  British  and  Colonial 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  held  In  London 
In  1886,  Sir  Robert  N.  Fowler,  a monbor 
of  Parliament,  a banker,  and  ex-M&yar 
of  London,  said  that  "The  effect  of  the 
depreciation  of  silver  must  finally  be  the 
ruin  of  the  wheat  and  cotton  producers  of 
America  and  be  the  development  of  In- 
dia as  the  chief  wheat  and  cotton  exporter 
of  the  world.” 

"Must  this  great  country  await  the  nod 
and  beck  of  the  aristocracies  of  Europe? 
Must  our  idle  millions  continue  to  beg  for 
work  and  go  hungry  or  join  the  army  of 
tiamps  and  beg  for  bread?  Must  tons 
of  millions  of  farmers  continue  to 

‘Lower  buckets  into  empty  wells 

And  grow  old  drawing  nothing  up’?— 
receiving  no  reward  for  their  labor  be- 
cause the  ’Idle  owners  of  idle  capital  here 


19 


and  fn  Europe  have  decreed  the  destruc- 
tion of  one  of  the  money  metals  of  the 
world,  and  our  own  government  is  too 
cowardly  to  strike  off  the  shackles  of 
foreign  dictation  and  restore  the  money  of 
tto  constitution?” — Senator  B.  R.  Till- 
man. 

"Thirty  years  of  profound  peace  and 
abundant  harvests  cannot  be  the  cause  of 
Universal  distress.” — Senator  William  H. 
Stewart. 


Washington,  D.  0.,  July  2,  1895. 
Edward  Stern,  Esq., 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Dear  Sir: — I am  instructed  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  Agriculture  to  respectfully  de- 
cline for  him,  on  the  ground  of  lack  of 
time,  any  further  correspondence  with  you 
upon  the  silver  question.  It  is  quite  evi- 
fisnt  to  his  mind  that  you  believe  that  an 
International  convention  can  declare  and 
maintain  the  proposition  that  2 and  2 are 
6,  instead  of  4.  He  thinks  that  you  are 

{>erfectly  sincere  in  believing  that  legis- 
ation  can  remedy  all  the  ills  which  hu- 
manity is  heir  to.  He  has  no  doubt  that 
legislation  will,  if  it  can,  make  equal,  by 
statute,  those  things  which  nature  made 
unequal  and  for  which  mankind  makes 
unequal  demand  soon  by  enactment — plow, 
plant  and  reap.  If  legislation  can  create 
60  cents  of  value  in  a silver  dollar  weigh- 
ing 412%  grains,  it  can  with  equal  facility 
create  100  cents  of  value  in  a piece  of 
pasteboard.  If  legislation  can  create  ANY 
value  it  can  create  ALL  value.  If  it  can 
make  the  promise  to  pay  a dollar  equal 
to  the  dollar  itself,  it  can  make  a meal 
ticket  as  nutritious  as  a meal,  a milk 
ticket  as  nourishing  as  milk,  and  an  in- 
dividual or  Government  check,  behind 
which  there  is  and  is  to  be  no  metallic 
or  other  money,  as  good  as  gold. 

The  Secretary  desires  me  to  express  for 
the  profound  researches  which  you  have 
evidently  made  in  the  history  of  currency 
and  finance  his  most  zealous  admiration. 
Respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)  JOHN  NORDHOUSE, 
Private  Secretary. 


Regarding  the  ability  or  inability  of  an 
international  convention  to  fix  and  main- 
tain a stable  ratio  of  value  between  gold 
and  silver  I would  direct  the  attention  of 
Secretary  Morton  to  the  following  declara- 
tion upon  which  the  members  of  the  Eng- 
lish Gold  and  Silver  Commission  in  their 
report  of  1888  unanimously  agreed,  though 
half  of  its  twelve  eminent  members  were 
opposed  to  silver: 

"We  think  that  in  any  condition  fairly 
to  be  contemplated  in  the  future,  so  far 
as  we  can  forecast  them  from  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past,  a stable  ratio  might  be 
maintained  if  the  nations  we  have  alluded 
to  (Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  Ger- 
many and  the  Latin  Union)  were  to  ac- 
cept and  strictly  adhere  to  bi-metallism  at 
the  suggested  ratio. 

"We  think  that  if  in  all  these  countries 
gold  and  silver  could  be  freely  coined 
and  thus  become  exchangeable  againstcom- 
modities  at  the  fixed  ratio,  the  market 
value  of  silver  as  measured  by  gold  (this 
proposition  is  necessarily  reversible)  would 


conform  to  that  ratio  and  not  vary  to  any 
material  extent. 

"We  need  not  enter  upon  any  extended 
explanation  of  our  reasons  for  this  view, 
since  such  reasons  can  be  derived  from 
wbat  we  have  set  forth  above  and  since 
in  our  opinion  they  obviously  follow  both 
from  theoretical  considerations  and  from 
the  experience  of  the  last  half  century.  It, 
in  fact,  appears  impossible  to  maintain  any 
other  view.” 

Thus  by  the  unanimous  admission  of 
the  most  expert  English  financiers,  who 
are  our  inveterate  enemies,  international 
bi-metallism  is  not  only  perfectly  feasible 
but,  as  they  sum  it  up,  "IT,  IN  FAGT,  AP- 
PEARS IMPOSSIBLE  TO  MAINTAIN 
ANY  OTHER  VIEW.” 

But  we  Americans  will  no  longer  permit 
ourselves  to  be  beguiled  by  their  interna- 
tional bi-metallic  will-o’-wisp  whilst  the 
financiers  of  that  tight  little  island  com- 
monly termed  England  continue  to  slyly 
bleed  us  to  death.  Acting  as  an  indepen- 
dent nation  should  act  we  will  teach  the 
English-American  capitalistic  combination 
lLat  we  Americans  alone  and  unaided  can 
restore  the  former  and  true  ratio  of  value 
between  the  metals  silver  and  gold.  In 
this  statement  I am  fully  corroborated  by 
no  less  an  authority  than  Mr.  Henry 
Hucks  Gibbs,  ex-Governor  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  who,  when  testifying  before  the 
British  Commission  was  asked:  "Can  Eng- 
land settle  the  silver  question?”  He  replied 
"Unquestionably.  Any  great  country  can 
settle  it.” 

When  our  nation  takes  legislative  action 
it  will  be  as  though  an  individual  worth 
$60,000,000,000  would  grapple  with  a paltry 
problem  of  $4,000,000,000,  which  is  the  total 
amount  of  silver  coin  and  bullion  in  the 
entire  world,  but  in  dealing  with  this 
really  puny  problem  which  has  been  so 
much  exaggerated  by  the  gold  conspira- 
tors. we  will  not  have  to  deal  with  the 
entire  world’s  sura  of  $4,000,000,000.  If  it 
all  came  here  we  would  have  to  give 
something  in  exchange  for  it.  Gold  we 
only  have  in  a very  limited  quantity,  and 
silver  nations  will  not  exchange  silver  for 

?;old;  therefore  silver  could  only  flow  here 
n exchange  for  commodities. 

Unless  other  nations  and  individuals 
charitably  gave  us  their  silver  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  any  avalanche  of 
foreign  silver  would  be  dumped  upon  us. 

Un-American  English  hireling  mercen- 
aries insidiouslv  and  assiduously  seek  to 
convey  the  impression  that  silver  exists 
in  unlimited  amounts.  It  is,  therefore,  in 
order  to  reveal  the  true  facts  to  all 
Americans  by  stating  that  all  the  silver 
coin  and  bullion  in  the  world  if  melted 
down  into  a single  cub®,  would  measure 
but  66  feet  in  breadth,  width  and  height. 
And  yet  the  cry  of  the  ship  loads  of  silver 
that  will  be  dumped  upon  us  as  soon  as 
we  open  our  mints. 

I would  much  apreciate  an  explanation 
from  a goldlte  source  of  how  the  silver 
curroncy  nations  would  get  along  without 
any  money  whatever,  as  would  necessarily 
be  the  case  if  they  shipped  their  silver 
to  these  United  States  of  America  for 
coinage  at  our  mints.  These  nations  en- 
tirely unmoved  and  uninfluenced  by  th® 
continuous  decline  in  the  gold  value  of 
silver,  hav®  calmly  continued  their  time- 


20 


honored  us®  of  silver  as  money.  Will 
some  able  and  honorable  gold  standard 
man  explain  why  these  people  and  nations 
should  suddenly  become  panic-stricken 
and  seek  to  get  rid  of  their  silver  as  soon 
as  they  saw  it  buying  more  and  more  of 
gold?  Gold  standard  logic  is  of  a curious 
character  Indeed.  Gold  standard  trick- 
ery and  chicanery  are  the  appellations 
which  best  define  their  criminal  position. 

Secretary  Morton’s  plea  for  a dollar’s 
worth  of  Bilver  in  our  dollar  is  very 
weak  when  we  come  to  consider  the  fact 
that  silver  is  far  less  plentiful  to-day  as 
oompared  with  gold  than  was  the  case 
60  years  ago.  Prior  to  1873  the  412^ 
grains  of  standard  silver  in  our  present 
dollar  were  worth  $1.02^  in  gold;  since 
1873  the  production  of  the  metals  has 
been  about  equal,  their  value  being  cal- 
culated upon  the  16  to  1 basis.  Unless 
Mr.  Morton  disputes  the  accuracy  of  this 
unquestionably  accurate  assertion,  may 
1 ask  him  to  explain  what  has  caused  the 
decline  in  the  gold  value  of  silver  if  it 
was  not  the  closing  of  the  mint  doors  in 
its  face,  whilst  the  cordial  and  unlimited 
welcome  of  gold  was  continued? 

Appreciating  the  unquestioned  fact 
that  OUR  MOST  SINCERE  AND  ABLE 
SECRETARY  “HAS  MADE  PROFOUND 
RESEARCH  INTO  THE  HISTORY  OF 
CURRENCY  AND  FINANCE,’’  I would 
Respectfully  request  him  to  answer  the 
lowing  list  of  highly-pertinent  ques- 
tions: 

1.  Is  it  not  a fact  that  the  “depreci- 
ation’’ of  the  “Greenbacks’’  and  the  pre- 
mium on  gold  during  and  after  the  war 
were  due  solely  to  the  “Exception  Clause,” 
whereby  U.  S.  gold  and  silver  coins  were 
made  the  only  legal  means  of  payment  of 
duties  on  imports  and  interest  on  the  pub- 
lic debt?  (See  Act  of  Feb.  26,  '62,  and 
Theddeus  Stevens’  speech  in  House,  Feb. 
20,  ’62.) 

2.  Is  this  not  proved  by  the  FACT  that 
two  kinds  of  “paper  money”  that  were 
not  “redeemable”  in  gold  or  silver  coin. 
Stood  at  par  with  gold  all  through  the 
war  and  after,  BECAUSE  they  were  not 
“orippled”  with  an  “Exception  Clause?” 

3.  Were  not  the  “Greenbacks”  “PUR- 
POSELY DEPRECIATED  TO  MAKE  A 
MARKET  FOR  THE  BONDS?”  See  speech 
of  John  Sherman  in  Senate.  Dec.  17,  ’67.) 

4.  Do  you  hold  that  “Greenbacks”  are 
not  really  money? 

5.  If  they  are  not  money,  were  the 
soldiers,  sailors  and  Government  creditors 
ever  really  paid? 

6 If  “greenbacks”  are  not  money,  were 
the  U.  S.  Government  bonds  paid  for  with 
“greenbacks”  ever  REALLY  paid  for? 

7.  If  the  legally  “crippled”  greenback 
was  good  enough  for  the  soldier,  was 
an!  is  it  not  good  enough  for  the  bond- 
holder? 

8.  WHICH  WAS  THE  MORE  DESERV- 
ING. THE  SOLDIER  OR  THE  BOND- 
HOLDER? 

9.  Were  not  the  U.  S.  bonds  sold  during 
and  after  the  war,  paid  for  with  “green- 
backs” and  other  forms  of  “paper  money?” 

10.  If  paper  money  is  good  in  war,  is  it 
not  better  in  peace? 

11.  Do  you  defend  the  so-called  “Credit 
Strengthening  (!)  Act”  (March  18,  1869)  by 
which  the  bonds  paid  with  and  payable 


in  lawful  money”  were  made  payable  in 
coin,  thus  robbing  the  people  of  the  United 
States  of  over  Half  a Billion  Dollars? 

12.  Was  not  this  change  in  the  terms  of 
payment,  repudiation? 

13.  Was  not  this  and  the  “Exception 
Clause”  on  the  “Greenback”  “ROBBERY 
BY  STATUTE  LAW?” 

14.  Is  not  the  “good  faith”  and  “honor” 
of  the  Government  due  first  to  its  citizens 
and  not  to  a small  class  of  “fund-holders?” 

15.  Was  not  the  demonetization  of  silver 
in  1873-4  in  the  interests  of  a small  class 
and  against  the  interest  of  the  mass  of 
the  people? 

16.  Was  not  the  intended  and  actual 
effeot  of  this  “flat”  demonetization  to  make 
gold  the  only  material  for  fully  monetized 
U.  S.  coins,  thus  making  money  scarcer 
and  prices  lower? 

17.  Doos  not  LAW  make  and  unmake 
money  ? If  law  does  not  do  so,  what,  then, 
does? 

18.  If  law  does,  can  it  not  make  money 
of  paper  as  well  as  of  gold  and  silver? 

19.  Do  not  these  monetized  gold,  silver 
and  paper  coins  come  into  existence  only 
through  law? 

20.  This  being  the  fact,  cannot  the  law 
make  them  scarce  or  make  them  plentiful? 

2L  Do  not  all  honest  political  economists 
agree  that  general  prices  in  any  country 
depend  upon  the  quantity  and  legal  quality 
of  money  in  that  country,  as  compared 
with  the  use  for  it? 

22.  Does  not  scarce  money  mean  low 
prices?  Are  you  in  favor  of  low  prices  or 
of  high  prices?  Which  do  you  favor; 
“good  times”  or  “bad  times?” 

23.  Would  it  not  be  better  for  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country  to  be  done -with  cash 
instead  of  with  confidence? 

24.  Would  not  a “panic”  be  impossible 
if  business  were  done  for  cash? 

25.  Is  not  what  is  usually  called  “credit” 
(!)  in  reality  DEBT? 

26.  Does  not  a contraction  of  the  “legal 

means  of  payment” — money — force  an 

inflation  of  debt? 

27.  Do  you  favor  an  inflation  of  debt, 
or  an  expansion  of  the  “legal  means  of 
payment’ —money? 

28.  Does  not  the  law  compel  every  citi- 
zen to  tender  certain  things  called 
“Dollars,”  as  the  only  means  of  legal 
payment  of  debts  and  of  taxes?  Is  not 
this  the  vital  point  of  the  whole  money 
question? 

29.  Do  you  favor  the  retirement  of  the 
outstanding  greenbacks  and  “funding** 
them  into  interest  bearing  bonds? 

30.  Do  you  favor  “International  (?)  Bi- 
metallism?” If  the  “Gold  standard”  is  a 
good  thing,  why  replace  it  with  “Internat- 
ional” (?)  Bi-metallism? 

31.  Have  we  not  had  both  “good  times” 
and  “bad  times”  and  also  “panics”  under 
high  protective  (?)  tariffs,  and  also  “good 
times,”  "bad  times”  and  “panics”  under 
low  “free  trade”  tariffs? 

82.  If  the  greenback — the  “redeemer”  of 
the  national  bank  note — is  “rag  money,” 
what  is  the  national  bank  note? 

83.  Does  not  the  banker  draw  interest 
on  his  promise  to  pay? 

84.  Does  not  the  right  the  creditor  has 
to  call  upon  the  law  to  enforce  payment 
of  his  claim — even  to  the  ruin  of  the 
debtor — give  the  law  the  right  to  say 
what  the  debt  shall  be  payable  in? 


21 


35.  Is  not  the  so-called  “gold  standard” 

only  another  name  fcr  scarce  money  and 
low  prices  ? * 

36.  Did  you  ever  know  of  “hard  times” 
when  prices  in  general  were  rising? — or  of 
“good  times”  when  general  prices  were 
falling? 

S7.  Did  you  ever  see  a 50-cent  dollar,  8- 
ounce  pound,  or  6-inch  foot? 

38.  Why  is  the  standard  silver  dollar 
more  valuable  as  money  than  the  trade 
dollar,  which  weighs  iy2  grains  more? 

(In  anwsering  this  question,  bear  in 
mind  that  our  Government  has  never  re- 
deemed a single  one  of  our  standard  silver 
dollars  in  gold!) 

39.  Has  Congress  power  to  issue  paper 
money  which  is  not  redeemable  in  either 
silver  or  gold? 

40.  If  Congress  has  not,  how  can  it  dele- 
gate to  corporations  (national  banks)  a 
power  which  it  does  not,  itself,  possess? 

41.  Did  either  political  party  advocate 
the  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873,  or 
prior  to  that  date? 

42.  How  many  Congressmen  or  Senators 
made  speeches  advocating  that  silver  be 
demonetized  during  the  consideration  of 
the  law  of  1873? 

43.  How  is  it  that  not  a single  newspa- 
per published  in  our  country  during  that 
fateful  year — 1873 — advised  the  American 
people  that  one  of  their  constitutional 
money-metals  had  been  denied  its  time- 
honored  free  - coinage  privilege  at  our 
Mints? 

44.  When  silver  is  remonetized,  would 
you  not  regard  it  as  a somewhat  singular 
omission  if  the  newspapers  failed  to  advise 
the  general  public  of  the  fact? 

45.  Do  you  not  think  that  the  demoneti- 
zation of  silver  was  accomplished  by  fraud 
and  stealth,  and  that  English  financiers 
conceived  and  planned  its  secret  enact- 
ment? 

46.  Has  the  value  (purchasing-power)  of 
the  metal  gold  been  unchangeable  during 
the  past  twenty-three  years? 

47.  Has  it  appreciated  or  depreciated  in 
value  (purchasing-power)  ? 

48.  If  gold  is  not  unchangeable  in  value 
(purchasing-power),  would  it  not  be  as  ra- 
tional to  found  the  yard-stick  upon  a strip 
of  India-rubber  as  to  attempt  to  found  a 
unit  of  value  upon  a fixed  weight  of  gold? 

(In  both  cases,  the  same  results  would 
follow — viz. : If  we  owed  English  and  oth- 
er capitalists  a certain  number  of  yards  of 
fabrics,  they  could  increase  the  quantity 
which  they  would  receive  by  merely 
stretching  the  strip  of  rubber  which  con- 
stituted the  standard  unit  of  length.  They 
have  accomplished,  and  are  still  further 
accomplishing,  the  same  end  more  effect- 
ually by  stealthily  appreciating  (stretching) 
the  value  of  gold,  a fixed  weight  of  which 
metal  is  contained  in  every  gold  dollar; 
and  then  they  term  it  “sound,  honest  mo- 
ney”! The  same  piratical  crew,  in  1855, 
when  the  enormous  output  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Australia  threatened  to  decrease 
Its  value  (purchasing-power),  wanted  to 
— and  actually  did! — demonetize  gold  in 
Germany,  Austria,  and  other  nations. 
Gold  is  only  unchangeable  in  value  when 
measured  by  itself.  So  is  every  other  ex- 
changeable commodity.  A pound  of  tin  is 
always  worth  a pound  of  tin ; a pound  of 
copper  is  always  worth  a pound  of  copper; 


a pound  of  lead  is  always  worth  a pound 
of  lead.  It  is  with  absurd  trickery  of  thta 
character  that  gold-advocates  seek  to  de- 
lude our  citizens!) 

49.  Does  not  the  true  welfare  of  mankind 
demand  that  the  value  (purchasing-power) 
of  the  circulating  money-units  which  w© 
term  dollars  should  be  as  constant  as  pos- 
sible, and  not  allowed,  under  any  circum- 
stances, to  appreciate,  as  has  been  the  cas© 
during  the  past  twenty-three  years  of  Eng- 
lish financial  domination  of  our  monetary 
system  ? 

50.  Do  you  not  think  that  we  should  de- 
clare our  finacial  independence  of  Great 
Britain  and  all  other  nations  as  our  Re- 
volutionary forefathers  did  our  political 
independence  one  hundred  years  ago?  If 
not,  why  not? 

If  Secretary  Morton  cannot  find  time  to 
answer  these  questions,  I would  suggest 
to  public-spirited  citizens  that  they  put 
them  to  the  speakers  at  all  Gold-standard 
meetings  from  now  until  the  November 
election!  Questions  are  always  welcomed 
at  Free-Silver  meetings.  Be  Americans! 
Force  the  gold  men  to  do  as  silver  speak- 
ers do — viz.:  Answer  questions!  If  gold  is 
the  only  sound,  honest  money-standard, 
those  who  advocate  it  should  be  able  to 
give  most  lucid  and  convincing  answers  to 
relevant  questions.  Try  it!  Insist  upon  it! 


Philadelphia,  July  8,  1895. 
Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — Your  letter  of  the  2d  instant 
duly  received.  I say  “your”  letter;  for, 
although  it  is  signed  by  your  private  sec- 
retary, John  Nordhouse,  its  utterances 
have  the  inimitable  J.  Sterling  Morton 
ring  to  them,  which  the  American  public 
will  recognize  on  sight.  It  is  a source  of 
profound  regret  to  us  all  that  you  decline 
to  continue  this  most  interesting  corre- 
spondence. We  have  a feeling  down  her® 
in  Philadelphia  that,  large  as  is  the  fight 
ahead  of  us,  you  would  win  it  for  us  if  you 
will  only  continue  your  letter- writing! 
We  are  afraid  that  our  citizens — Norik, 
East,  South,  and  West — will  laugh  at  such 
a valiant  gold-knight  as  yourself  with- 
drawing from  the  lists  after  merely  a pre- 
liminary skirmish;  for,  as  yet,  we  have 
only  scratched  the  surface  of  the  vital  is- 
sue (10). 


(10)  Since  his  ignominious  refusal  to  con- 
tinue correspondence  with  Mr.  Stern,  coup- 
led with  his  contemptible  efforts  to  sup- 
press the  publication  of  his  correspond- 
ence, Mr.  Morton  has  abruptly  and  entire- 
ly discontinued  his  copious  letter-writing 
upon  the  money  question.  No  other  publi- 
cation so  clearly  reveals  the  dishonest  and 
dishonorable  attitude  of  the  so-called  hon- 
est-money men  as  does  this  little  pam- 
phlet. They  utterly  lack  the  courage  of 
defending  or  rationally  upholding  their  ex- 
pressed views.  They  refuse  to  answer  vi- 
tally-important  questions  which  are  rele- 
vant to  the  issue.  Their  only  effective 
weapon  is  their  power  of  suppressing  the 
truth  through  their  control  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  newspapers  of  all  large  cities! 
Since  Mr.  Bryan  has  been  nominated,  Mr. 
Morton  again  returned  to  the  attack,  and 
he  now  figures  prominently  as  a candidate 


22 


I was  most  happy  when  I received  your 
letter  of  June  19;  for  one  of  the  first  of 
many  statements  contained  therein  was 
that  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  regu- 
lated the  prices  of  commodities.  And  you 
— very  properly — inoluded  gold  and  silver 
bullion  in  this  list  of  exchangeable  commo- 
dities. Though  I must  respectfully  beg  to 
differ  with  you  upon  the  truthfulness  of 
many  of  the  statements  contained  in  your 
letters,  I am  in  entire  accord  with  your 
firm,  unwavering  adhesion  to  this  law; 
and,  therefore,  I thought  that  we  had  a 
most  substantial  basis  to  continue  our 
correspondence  upon  the  varied  phases  of 
this  most  absorbing  of  subjects.  Despite 
your  formal  excuse  of  “lack  of  time,”  I 
believe  that  your  real  reason  for  shirking 
all  further  public  discussion  is  that  you 
think  I wish  to  proceed  upon  a visionary 
and  unsubstantial  basis.  I,  therefore,  must 
hasten  to  reassure  you,  by  cordially  invit- 
ing you  to  continue  this  correspondence 
solely  upon  your  own  basis — viz. ; the  con- 
sideration of  the  factors  of  supply  and  de- 
mand as  regulating  the  prices  of  all  com- 
modities, silver  included.  We  do  not  claim 
that  silver  is  not  a commodity.  We  freely 
grant  that  it  is,  and  that  its  price,  in  com- 
mon with  the  prices  of  all  commodities,  is, 
therefore,  decided  by  the  law  already  sta- 
ted. Furthermore,  I fully  agree  with  an 
additional  statement  in  your  letter  of  June 
19— to  wit: 

“I  trust  you  may  keep  constantly  before 
those  whom  you  would  instruct  the  fact 
that  the  laws  of  economics  are  as  unyield- 
ing and  as  inexorable  in  their  operation  as 
the  laws  of  Nature!” 

Joining  issue  with  you  on  your  own  cho- 
sen basis,  I do  not  think  that  you  will  be 
so  unmanly  as  to  fail  t©  correspond  at  the 
rate  of,  say,  one  letter  from  each  of  us  per 
week.  No  matter  how  busy  you  are,  I feel 
•ure  that  you  will  not  deny  yourself  this 
pleasure.  Upon  one  other  point  I wish  to 
reassure  you — viz. : you  appear  to  labor  un- 
der the  impression  that,  if  our  Government 
extends  to  silver  the  privilege  it  formerly 
freely  accorded  it — unlimited  coinage  as  a 
standard  money-metal — and  thus  aids  in 
restoring  not  only  its  monetary  value,  but 
also  its  value  as  a commodity,  our  next 
step  will  be  to  have  our  Government  exert 
Its  all-powerful  influence  in  favor  of  high- 
er prices  for  various  other  commodities. 
We  frankly  plead  guilty  to  that  count  of 
your  indictment  which  charges  us  with  de- 
siring that  our  Government  of  these  feeble 
and  puny  United  States  of  America,  unas- 
sisted by  other  powerful  nations,  should 
seek,  by  wise,  conservative  action,  to  re- 
store 3ilver  to  its  former  honored  position; 
but  w©  claim  that,  as,  of  all  commodities, 
the  two  metals,  silver  and  gold,  have  been 
and  are  used  as  money,  and  will,  no  doubt, 
continue  to  be  so  used  for  many  years  to 
come  by  the  varied  peoples  and  nations  of 
the  earth,  these  two  commodities  and  their 
ratio  of  value,  therefore,  should  be  consid- 
ered to  constitute  a special  class,  to  be 
treated— in  some  respects,  at  least— In  an 

for  the  Presidency  upon  the  Gold  ticket  of 
the  Democratic  bankers  and  brokers;  but 
It  is  all  a bluff,  as  those  shrewd  manipu- 
lators will  work  and  vote  for  their  only 
£t£?TWILLIAM  M’KINLEY  AND  ENG- 
LISH GOLD! 


entirely  different  manner  from  all  other 
commodities. 

To  point  this  observation,  I will  call 
your  attention  to  the  pertinent  fact  that, 
at  the  present  time,  there  exists  an  unlim- 
ited demand  for  the  commodities  gold  and 
silver,  at  the  mints  of  the  various  nations, 
at  a fixed  price.  Can  you  direct  attention 
to  any  other  commodity  for  which  there 
exists  unlimited  national  demand  at  a 
fixed  price? 

Unless  you  can  do  so,  we  are  safe  in  as- 
serting that  our  contention — that  the  com- 
modities gold  and  silver  do  constitute  a 
special  class,  possessing  special  rights  and 
privileges  apart  from  any  and  all  other 
commodities — is  well  sustained  by  facts: 
which  are,  of  course,  much  more  convinc- 
ing than  theory. 

In  your  letter  to  me,  under  date  of  June 
19,  you  point  out  the  great  number  of  na- 
tions which  have,  by  legislative  fiat,  adopt- 
ed the  gold  standard  since  1873;  but  you 
neglect  mentioning  the  fact  that  not  in  a 
single  Instance  did  the  people  of  any  na- 
tion have  an  opportunity  of  voting  upon 
the  question.  You  also  dwell  upon  the 
large  quantity  of  gold  which  Russia  has 
been  and  is  accumulating,  although  she  is 
not  upon  a Gold-standard  basis.  I will 
now  supplement  your  statements  by  the 
following  extract  from  a speech  of  April 
11,  1876,  delivered  by  that  eminent  gold-ad- 
vocate and  silver  - demonetizes  Senator 
John  Sherman: 

“The  enormous  effect  of  this  law  in  Ger- 
many— and,  as  a consequence,  the  partial 
demonetization  of  silver  coin — IS  FELT  BY 
EVERY  MAN,  WOMAN,  AND  CHILD 
WHO  BUYS  OR  SELLS  ANYTHING!  I 
suppose  there  is  no  act  of  any  parliament 
that  has  had  so  wide-reaching  an  effect 
as  this  act  of  the  German  law-makers! 
The  amount  of  coin  in  the  world  is  esti- 
mated, by  Mr.  Seyd  and  other  technical 
writers,  at  $3,200,000,000  of  silver  and  $3,- 
500,000.000  of  gold.  A STRUGGLE  FOR 
THE  POSSESSION  OF  THE  GOLD  AT 
ONCE  AROSE  BETWEEN  ALL  THE 
GREAT  NATIONS,  because  everybodv 
oould  see  that,  if  the  $3,200,000,000  of  silver 
were  demonetized,  and  the  $3,500,000,000  of 
gold  coin  made  the  sole  standard,  it  would 
ENORMOUSLY  ADD  TO  THE  VALUE 
OF  GOLD;  and  the  Bank  of  France,  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  the  Imperial  Bank 
of  Germany  at  once  commenced  grasping 
fer  gold,  in  whatever  form.  Therefore, 
what  wo  have  observed  recently  is  NOT 
SO  MUCH  A FALL  IN  SILVER  AS  A 
RISE  IN  GOLD— the  INEVITABLE  EF- 
FECT OF  THE  DEMONETIZATION  OF 
SILVER!”— 

Now,  I ask  you,  do  you  not  perceive,  by 
your  own  truthful  but  rash  admissions, 
that  you  stand  convicted  of  advocating  an 
appreciating  money-standard? 

You  desire  that  the  dollar  of  our  Nation 
should  be  based  solely  upon  a definite 
weight  of  25.8  grains  of  gold  bullion  of 
standard  fineness.  You  have  admitted  that 
gold  bullion  is  an  exchangeable  commo- 
dity. You  show  that,  since  1873,  the  de- 
mand for  it  for  monetary  purposes  haa 
vastly  increased,  whilst  the  supply  avail- 
able for  that  purpose  has  increased  slight- 
ly, if  at  all. 

On  April  18,  1890,  Sir  Lionel  Playfair 


23 


expressed  his  conviction,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  that  the  demand  for  gold,  for 
purposes  outside  of  minting,  amounted  to 
at  least  75  per  cent,  of  the  annual  pro- 
duction ; and  Mr.  Robert  Giffen  (goldite 
as  he  is)  said,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
for  November,  1889,  that  the  amount  of 
gold  regularly  absorbed  for  non-monetary 
purposes  appears  to  almost  equal  the  pro- 
duction— while  many  contend  that  it  takes 
it  all. 

Therefore  you  must  grant  that  the 
value  of  a fixed  weight  of  gold  has  been 
and  is  appreciating.  Regarding  the  blight- 
ing effects  of  an  appreciating  money  stan- 
dard, Mr.  Balfour,  a prominent  member 
of  the  present  English  Government,  spoke 
with  the  utmost  candor  at  Manchester  in 
October,  1892,  and  stated: 

"An  appreciation  of  the  standard  of 
value  is  probably  THE  MOST  DEADEN- 
ING AND  BENUMBING  influence  which 
can  touch  the  springs  of  enterprise  in  the 
Nation.  ...  I have  no  hesitation  how 
in  asserting,  as  I have  often  asserted  be- 
fore, that,  if  you  cannot  obtain  abso- 
lute, theoretical  perfection  it  ia  better  for 
the  community  at  large  that  your  standard 
should  be  a depreciating  standard  than  it 
should  be  an  appreciating  one." 

He  was  addressing  not  a meeting  of 
American  silver  mine  owners,  but  of  Eng- 
lish business  men  and  manufacturers,  ad- 
vocates of  bi-metallism,  who  in  common 
with  our  own  business  men  are  suffering 
©n  account  of  the  long  continued  apprecia- 
tion of  gold.  Further  on  in  his  address 
Mr.  Balfour  said: 

"Our  present  gold  standard  has  gone 
up  in  value  no  less  than  30  per  cent  or 
85  per  cent  in  some  15  or  16  years,  and  is 
is  steadily,  CONTINUOUSLY  and  IN- 
DEFINITELY INCREASING  in  value,  so 
that  no  man  living  can  prophesy  the 
limits  to  which  the  increase  may  extend." 

Mr.  Robert  Giffen,  the  eminent  English 
statistician,  is  equally  candid.  Commenting 
upon  his  prediction  of  a rise  in  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  gold,  he,  in  18M,  said. 

"If  the  test  of  prophecy  be  the  event, 
then  was  never  surely  a better  forecast. 
The  fall  of  prices  in  such  a general  way  as 
to  amount  to  nhat  is  known  as  a rise  in 
the  purchasing  power  of  gold  is  generally 
— I might  almost  say  universally — admit- 
ted. 

"Measured  by  any  commodity,  or  group 
of  commodities,  usually  taken  as  the  mea- 
sure for  such  a purpose,  GOLD  18  UN- 
DOUBTEDLY POSSESSED  OF  MORE 
PURCHASING  POWER  THAN  WAS  THE 
CASE  15  OR  20  YEARS  AGO;  and  this 
high  purchasing  power  has  been  contin- 
ued over  a long  enough  period  to  allow 
for  all  minor  oscillations. 

"It  is  obvious  that  the  weight  of  all  per- 
manent burdens  is  increased  as  compared 
with  what  would  have  been  the  case  if 
there  had  bejn  no  appreciation. 

"DEBTORS  TAY  MORE  THAN  THEY 
WOULD  OTHERWISE  PAY,  AND  CRED- 
ITORS RECEIVE  MORE. 

"Appreciation  is  A MOST  SERIOUS 
MATTER  to  those  who  have  debts  to  pay. 

* * * I am  bound  to  say  that  all  the 
evidence  seems  to  me  to  POINT  TO  A 
CONTINUATION  of  the  appreciation.  It 
is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  move- 
ment (for  a single  gold  standard)  will  not 


extend  to  other  countries.  All  these  fact* 
point  to  a CONTINUED  PRESSURE  ON 
GOLD.” 

Mr.  Giffen  is  but  one  of  many  able 
students  of  money  who  predicted  a rise 
in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold. 

"As  regards  the  theory,  I feel  strongly 
in  what  an  admirable  manner  you  have 
set  forth  the  principles  of  the  so-called 
‘double  standard,’  and  THE  DANGER 
WE  MIGHT  RUN  OF  A RISE  IN  THU 
VALUE  OF  GOLD  WERE  SILVER  EN- 
TIRELY DEMONETIZED."— Prof.  Jevons 
(in  a letter  to  M.  Wolowski,  January  12, 
1868). 

Another  way  of  stating  the  situation  1* 
that  so  long  as  the  value  of  our  Ameri- 
can dollar  is  based  solely  upon  a fixed 
weight  of  the  one  metal,  English  gold, 
our  farm  lands,  live  stock,  buildings  de- 
voted to  every  use,  all  kinds  of  merchan- 
dise and  commodities,  machinery  of  every 
character  will  continue  to  command  few«r 
and  fewer  dollars  in  exchange  when  sold. 
This  diabolical  arrangement  may,  fron* 
the  selfish  standpoint  be  satisfactory  to 
the  holders  of  well  secured  bonds.  In- 
vestments, mortgages,  stocks,  etc.,  whica 
call  for  a definite  number  of  dollars,  but 
it  means  stagnation  and  ruin  to  all  pro- 
ductive enterprises  of  every  character,  ag- 
ricultural, manufacturing,  mining  and  com- 
mercial. The  ability  of  every  business 
man,  manufacturer  and  farmer  to  meet 
his  liabilities  and  fixed  charges  of  rept, 
taxes,  etc.,  is  being  undermined.  The 
stocks,  buildings,  machinery,  etc.,  of  the 
manufacturer,  wholesaler  and  jobber  shrink 
steadily  as  measured  by  dollars,  whose 

urchasing  power  continually  increases, 

ut  their  liabilities,  which  are  expressed 
in  dollars,  do  not  decrease.  The  mischief 
does  not  stop  here,  for  the  ability  of 
each  retailer  to  pay  obligations  due  fco 
the  wholesaler  and  manufacturer  is  also 
steadily  and  insidiously  being  crippled  as 
their  stocks  of  merchandise  and  thely 
other  property  shrink  as  measured  by 
dollars,  which  are  ever  buying  more.  In 
many  lines  of  trade  the  amounts  of  mer- 
chandise upon  the  retailers’  shelves  which 
three  years  &®o  would  have  sold  for  $6,000 
and  thus  liquidated  Indebtedness  of  that 
amount  would  to-day  sell  for  but  $2,500 
or  $3,000.  Salesmen  who  are  fortunate 
enough  to  sell  the  usual  quantity  o-f  mer- 
chandise to  their  trade  find  that  their 
sales  do  not  amount  up  to  the  former 
number  of  dollars  on  account  of  the  low 

rices  at  which  goods  are  necessarily  sold, 

ut  railroad  tickets,  sleepers,  excess  bag- 
gage, freights,  and  other  expenses  in  gen- 
eral do  not  fall  proportionately. 

Everywhere  we  hear  of  forced  bargain 
sales  at  unheard-of  reductions  from  regu- 
regular  prices  (11). 


(11)  Our  vast  army  of  Intelligent  commer- 
cial travellers  are  vitally  interested  in  our 
nation’s  having  a truly  sound  monetary 
system.  They  should  ask  one  another  a 
few  questions.  Why  is  it  so  hard  to  get 
customers  to  place  orders  with  prices  fall- 
ing? Why  with  prices  falling  are  the  or- 
ders which  are  placed  so  frequently  can- 
celled or  a largo  proportion  of  the  goods 
returned  after  they  are  shipped?  Did  you 
ever  have  any  trouble  in  securing  satis- 
factory orders  with  prices  steady  and  ad- 


24 


Let  every  humane  person  reflect  upon  the 
losses  and  suffering  entailed  upon  the  pro- 
ducers of  the  slaughtered  wares.  Last  but 
not  least  in  the  list  comes  our  unfortunate 
farmers,  who  suffer  to  a greater  extent 
than  any  other  class  of  our  citizens.  Upon 
their  staple  crops  they  must  meet  the  di- 
rect and  blighting  effects  of  competition 
with  similar  products  of  silver  currency 
Countries.  In  addition  they  suffer  from 
the  depreciation  of  their  property  as 
measured  by  a dollar  which  ever  buys 
more  and  more  of  everything  under  the 
sun  except  gold.  When  our  farmers  come 
to  sell  those  products  of  their  farms  which 
fire  not  produced  in  silver  countries,  they 
too  often  find  their  customers  so  impov- 
erished through  our  vicious  financial  sys- 
tem that  they  realize  little  if  anything  for 
their  crops.  Our  agricultural  interests  are 

Store  important  than  those  of  any  other 
old  standard  country.  As  year  after  year 
foils  around  despite  their  toil  our  farmers 
ire  w'orth  fewer  and  fewer  dollars.  Our 
business  men  and  manufacturers  cannot 
be  prosperous  when  the  30,000,000  of  people 
dwelling  upon  soil  of  our  Nation  have  no 
dollars  to  spend.  At  present  the  average 
daily  income  of  our  farming  population  is, 
according  to  United  States  official  statistics, 
but  25.8  cents  per  day. 

Thomas  Carlyle  once  wrote:  “Wait  a lit- 
tle till  the  entire  nation  is  in  an  electric 
state,  till  your  vital  electricity,  no  longer 
healthfully  neutral,  is  cut  into  two  iso- 
lated portions  of  positive  and  negative 
(of  money  and  hunger)  and  stand  there 
bottled  up  in  two-world  batteries.  The 
Stirring  of  a child’s  finger  brings  the  two 
together,  and  then— what  then?” 

“The  shrinkage  in  the  volume  of  cur- 
rency has  caused  more  misery  than  war. 


vancing?  With  prices  steady  or  advanc- 
ing did  you  ever  experience  the  flood  of 
Unjust  complaint  and  frivolous,  unfounded 
claims,  etc.,  which  you  must  contend  with 
when  prices  are  falling  as  they  are  and 
have  been? 

John  Sherman,  speaking  in  the  Senate, 
January  27,  1869,  described  the  horrors 
Of  money  contraction  in  the  following 
manner:  “To  every  person  except  a capi- 
talist out  of  debt,  or  to  the  salaried  offi- 
cer it  is  a period  of  loss,  danger,  prostra- 
tion of  trade,  fall  of  wages,  suspension  of 
enterprise,  bankruptcy  and  disaster.  * * * 
It  means  the  ruin  of  all  dealers  whose 
debts  are  twice  their  capital,  though  one- 
third  less  than  their  property.  It  means 
the  fall  of  all  agricultural  productions 
without  any  very  great  reduction  in  taxes.’’ 

We  Americans  should  ask  Mr.  Sherman 
whether  he  told  the  truth  then  or  acts 
tho  falsehood  now  and  for  years  past. 
Then  (In  1869)  he  was  a comparatively 
poor  man.  To-day  he  has  accumulated 
millions.  How?  Prom  what  source?  "Ye 
cannot  serve  two  masters” — Ye  cannot 
serve  gold  and  the  people.  Don’t  you 
think  we  are  all  of  us  vitally  interested 
in  the  factors  which  influence  the  general 
range  of  prices?  Which  do  you  advocate — 
the  gold-contraction  policy,  with  prices 
ever  falling  lower,  or  the  steady-price,  bi- 
metallic system  of  free  coinage  of  both 
metals? 

Ask  at  each  Union  News  stand  and  of 
each  train  boy  why  they  do  not  keep 
■liver  literature  on  sale? 


famine  and  pestilence,  and  more  injustice 
than  all  bad  laws  ever  enacted.” — Report 
United  States  Monetary  Commission  of 
1876. 

During  the  past  two  years  Cleveland’s 
ruinous  Gold-policy  bond-sales  have  con- 
tracted the  volume  of  our  money  in  cir- 
culation $154,000,000.  During  the  same 
period  our  population  has  increased  by 
millions  of  souls;  thus  our  per  capita 
circulation  is  steadily  becoming  less,  and 
with  fewer  and  fewer  dollars  in  circula- 
tion, and  many  more  people  using  them, 
is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  it  is  harder 
and  harder  for  each  business  man,  far- 
mer, mechanic,  or  laboring  man  to  obtain 
the  usual  number  of  dollars  which  he  re- 
quires? The  holders  of  bonds,  mortgages, 
etc.,  receive  a stated  number  of  dollars, 
and  do  not,  therefore,  complain  as  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  dollar  is  steadily 
enhanced;  but  how  long  can  our  suffering 
business-men,  wage-earners,  and  producers 
stand  the  every-increasing  strain? 

In  1888  the  late  Senator  Plumb  In  ad- 
dressing the  Senate  summed  up  the  sit- 
uation in  the  following  lucid  manner: 
“The  contraction  of  th*  currency  by  5 
per  cent,  of  its  volume  m**ns  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  property  of  the  country 
$3,000,000,000.  Debts  have  not  only  in- 
creased. but  the  means  to  pay  them  have 
diminished  in  proportion  as  the  currency 
has  been  contracted.” 

The  United  States  Monetary  Commission 
of  1876  refers  to  money  as  “The  great 
instrument  of  association,  the  very  fibre 
of  social  organism,  the  vita  izing  force  of 
industry,  the  protoplasm  of  civilization, 
and  as  essential  to  its  existence  as  oxygen 
is  to  animal  life.  Without  money  civilisa- 
tion could  not  have  had  a beginning;  wlch 
a diminishing  supply  It  must  languish, 
and.  unless  reMeved.  finally  perish.” 

Sir  Archibald  Alison,  England’s  great 
historian,  speaks  of  money  as  “This  migh- 
ty agent  In  human  affairs.’  ’ 

In  1869,  befcr*  silver  vras  demonetized 
Senator  Sherman  showed  his  thorough 
mastery  of  the  subject  of  money  in  the 
following  pregnant  words: 

“The  contraction  of  the  currency  is  a far 
more  distressing  operation  than  Senators 
suppose.  Our  owrn  and  other  nations  have 
gone  through  the  operation  before.  IT  IS 
NOT  P0SSI3LE  TO  TAKE  THAT  VOY- 
AGE WITHOUT  THE  SOREST  DIS- 
TRESS. 

“To  every  person,  except  the  capitalist 
out  of  debt,  or  a salaried  officer  or  annui- 
tant, it  is  a period  of  loss,  danger,  lassi- 
tude of  trade,  fall  of  wages,  suppression 
of  enterorise,  bankruptcy  and  disaster. 

“IT  MEANS  THE  RUIN  of  all  dealers 
whose  debts  are  twice  their  business  capl- 
ital,  though  one-third  less  than  their  ac- 
tual property. 

“It  means  the  fall  of  agricultural  pro- 
duction, without  any  great  reduction  of 
taxes.  WHAT  PRUDENT  MAN  WOULD 
DARE  BUILD  A HOUSE.  A RAILROAD, 
A FACTORY  OR  A BARN  WITH  THIS 
CERTAIN  FACT  BEFORE  HIM?” 

In  December.  1892,  Prof.  Foxwell,  one  of 
England’s  ablest  and  most  universally 
respected  authorities  on  political  economy, 
wrote  an  article  for  the  London  Contem- 
porary Review,  from  which  I take  the  fol- 
lowing extracts: 

"It  is  easy  to  see  the  results  of  this 


25 


unfortunate  policy.  IT  ONLY  COULD 
HAVE  PRODUCED  THE  EFFECTS 
WHICH  WE  HAVE  SEEN  ACTUALLY 
TO  FOLLOW  IT.  Since  1873,  gold  has  ap- 
preciated in  value  some  35  per  cent.  * * * 
All  business-men  will  very  easily  under- 
stand such  a change  is,  when  serious  and 
long  continued,  profoundly  depressing  to 
trade.  IT  OPERATES  LIKE  A FRICTION 
BRAKE  UPON  THE  WHEELS  OF  IN- 
DUSTRY AND  COMMERCE.  All  property 
and  stocks  are  depreciated.  * * * The 
burden  of  fixed  charges  is  increased,  and 
the  producer  finds  the  margin  of  profit 
disappear— and  THUS  EMPLOYMENT 

fECOMES  RESTRICTED  AND  \v~GES 
ALL.  The  weight  of  taxation  Increases 
automatically,  and  the  burden  of  all  debts 
—including  the  national  debt,  in  which 
•very  tax  payer  is  concerned — is  steadily 
aggravated.  * * * 

“BUT  EXPERIENCE  AND  REASON 
ALIKE  SHOW  THAT  A FALL  OF 
PRICES,  BY  DESTROYING  PROFITS, 
DESTROYS  ENTERPRISE  AND  SERI- 
OUSLY CONTRACTS  EMPLOYMENT. 
Thus,  as  in  the  case  of  every  other  great 
national  loss,  though  the  employer  and 
the  trader  may  serve  as  buffers  for  a time, 
and  bear  the  first  brunt  of  the  shock, 
THE  BURDEN  ULTIMATELY  FALLS 
ON  THE  SHOULDERS  OF  LABOR.  We 
seem  to  have  reached  the  point  at  which 
the  buffers  have  been  thoroughly  squeezed 
and  the  strain  is  now  falling  on  wages. 
It  would  be  easy  to  fill  pages  with  the 
reductions  in  wages  in  the  present  year 
alone. 

‘ The  root  evil,  in  short,  of  the  present 
monetary  situation  is  the  continued  ap- 

freciation  of  gold,  depressing,  as  it  does, 
he  enterprise  of  the  industrial  class.’’ 

In  1890,  Senator  Aldrich,  of  Rhode 
Island,  one  of  the  most  influential  Re- 
publicans in  the  Senate,  said: 

“Any  cause  that  destroys  the  stability 
•f  money  as  a standard  of  deferred  pay- 
ments, which  is  its  most  essential  at- 
tribute, imposes  obstacles  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  business  interests 
of  a community  which  cannot  be  readily 
measured.  Any  considerable  contraction  of 
the  volume  of  money  causes  inconvenience 
and  imposes  hardships  upon  all.  If  long 
continued,  it  enforces  constantly  dimin- 
ishing profits  in  industrial  enterprises, 
produces  irregularity  of  employment  to  all 
engaged  in  productive  labor,  and  impairs 
the  free  development  of  the  producing 
power  of  the  world.” 

But  Senator  Aldrich,  influenced  no  doubt 
by  the  powerful  capitalists  of  New  Eng- 
land, has  veered  around  and  now  favors 
English  gold.  His  words,  however,  are 
upon  record,  and  will  no  doubt  serve  to 
veer  some  Republican  votes  to  Bryan. 
This  is  the  people’s  year. 

From  Chambers’  Encyclopedia,  edition 
1880,  I quote  the  following:  “The  iaws 

which  control  the  qualities  or  quantities 
of  money,  whether  of  coin  or  paper,  have 
an  influence  on  the  public  weal  vast  and 
sudden  beyond  those  enacted  on  any  other 
subject.  * * * They  strike  at  once  every 
material  interest  of  every  citizen  of  the 
country  subject  to  the  laws.  * * * The 
slightest  modification  of  national  aws  con- 
cerning money  affects  every  branch  of 


trade,  every  industry,  every  investment. 
That  prosperity  or  adversity  may  re- 
sult to  a majority  of  our  entire  people 
by  a simple  act  of  legislation  on  money, 
with  a rapidity  and  certainty  that  legis- 
lation on  no  other  subject  can  parallel 
has  become  obvious  to  all  intelligent 
people.” 

From  that  eminent  authority  the  present 
edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica, 
Volume  22,  page  73,  I draw  a quotation 
which  sums  up  much  in  a few  words: 

“The  closure  of  the  mints  of  all  im- 
portant commercial  countries  to  silver, 
while  they  have  remained  open  to  the 
free  coinage  of  gold  at  a fixed  valuation 
has  enhanced  the  purchasing  power  of  gold 
compared  with  either  silver  or  other  com- 
modities.” 

Leon  Faucett,  in  1843,  wrote: 

“If  all  the  nations  of  Europe  adopted 
the  system  of  Great  Britoin,  the  price  of 
gold  would  be  raised  beyond  measure,  and 
we  should  see  produced  in  Europe  a result 
lamentable  enough.” 

Before  a French  monetary  convention  in 
1869,  testimony  was  given  by  the  late  M. 
Wolowski,  by  Baron  Rothschild,  and  by  M. 
Rouland,  governor  of  the  Bank  of  France. 
M.  Wolowski  said: 

“The  sum  total  of  the  precious  metals  U 
reckoned  at  50  milliards,  one-half  gold  and 
one-half  silver.  If,  by  a stroke  of  the  pen, 
they  suppress  one  of  these  metals  in  the 
monetary  service,  tlmy  double  the  demand 
for  the  other  metal,  to  the  ruin  of  all 
debtors.” 

Baron  Rothschild  said: 

‘The  simultaneous  employment  of  th* 
two  metals  is  satisfactory  and  gives  rise 
to  no  complaint.  Whether  gold  or  silver 
dominates  for  the  time  being,  it  is  always 
true  that  the  two  metals  concur  together 
in  forming  the  monetary  circulation  of  the 
world,  and  it  is  the  general  mass  of  the 
two  metals  combined  which  serves  as  the 
measure  of  the  value  of  things.  The  sup- 
pression of  silver  would  amount  to  a 
veritable  destruction  of  values  without  any 
compensation.” 

The  following  pathetically  accurate  fore- 
cast is  from  the  able  pen  of  Davitt  D 
Chidester  (12),  and  was  written  in  1886: 


(12)  Those  who  desire  to  grasp  the  fun- 
damental principles  underlying  the  vital 
money  function  should  send  5c.  for  Mr. 
Chidester’s  ‘Outline  of  the  Philosophy  of 
Money.”  This  masterly  work  has  just  been 
issued  and  is  invaluable.  Its  lucid  exposi- 
tion of  the  tricks,  fallacies  and  plottings 
or  the  small  clique  of  scheming  financiers 
who  for  so  many  years  have  fattened  upon 
the  life  blood  of  the  hapless  producers  of 
our  own  and  other  nations,  will  strike 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  the  real  Anarchists 
of  the  world.  Those  whose  plunderings 
have  aggregated  such  immense  sums  that 
they  term  them  the  results  of  financiering 
and  of  speculation  (peculation  would  come 
closer  to  the  truth).  I will  be  pleased  to 
forward  Mr.  Chidester’s  pamphlet  and 
other  valuable  matter  to  those  who  desire 
to  aid  themselves  and  our  nation.  Knowl- 
edge is  power.  Mr.  Chidester’s  work  con- 
veys pure  knowledge  of  basic  principles 


26 


“A  general  fall  In  prices,  Invariably  tbe 
result  of  a decrease  In  the  volume  of 
money,  paralyzes  trade,  stagnates  Indus- 
try, suspends  or  stops  production  and  dis- 
tribution * * * failures  in  business  in- 
crease in  number.  • * * Signs  of  dis- 
tress, want  and  suffering  appear.  People 
economize  in  living  expenses  in  order  to 
pay  debts  and  meet  the  fixed  charges  of 
interest,  rent  and  taxation.  Tramps  fill 
the  highways;  suicides  become  more  num- 
erous, intemperance  and  drunkenness  in- 
crease, vice  and  immorality  augment, 
crimes  against  persons  and  property  mul- 
tiply frightfully.  A general  unrest  per- 
vades society.  Wages  are  cut  down, 
strikes  occur  with  greater  frequency.  * * 
* Riots  break  out.  * * * The  law  of  self- 
preservation  forces  men  to  become  selfish.” 

MR.  MORTON,  YOU  HAVE  PUBLICLY 
DEFINED  SOUND  MONEY  “AS  THAT 
SORT  OF  CURRENCY  WHICH  HAS  THE 
MOST  UNIVERSAL  AND  LEAST  FLUC- 
TUATING PURCHASING  POWER  IN 
THE  MARKETS  OF  ALL  COUNTRIES.” 
Deny,  if  you  can,  that  the  purchasing 

ower  of  a fixed  weight  of  silver  bullion 

as  for  the  past  23  years  answered  your 
definition  much  more  truly  and  accurately 
than  a fixed  weight  of  gold.  Deny  if  you 
dare  in  the  fane  of  your  own  admissions 
and  of  the  eminent  authorities  here 
quoted  that  the  value  of  gold  has  net  and 
is  not  appreciating.  Consider  well  the 
fatefui  words  of  Senator  Steward,  corro- 
borated as  they  are  by  the  reasoning  of 
the  profoundest  economic  minds  that 
"The  decay  of  civilization  follows  the 
continuous  increase  of  the  purchasing 
power  of  money  as  certainly  as  night 
follows  day." 

In  your  letter  to  me  of  June  19,  you 
state  that  600  years  of  civilized  experi- 
ence proves  the  contention  of  the  bi-met- 
allists to  be  without  foundation.  Six  hun- 
dred years  of  experience,  carrying  us 
back  as  it  does,  to  the  13th  century,  brings 
us  perilously  near  to  the  darkest  period 
of  the  dark  ages. 

During  this  era  there  was  very  little 
gold  and  silver  in  circulation.  The  dark 
ages  did  not  pass  away  until  the  d s- 
covery  of  America  by  Columbus,  when  ■» 
products  of  our  silver  and  god  mines 
greatly  increased  the  amount  of  mon;y 
in  circulation  In  European  countries,  and 
thereby  stimulated  the  arts,  sc  ences,  in- 
dustries and  commerce  bv  steadily  raising 
the  general  level  of  prices.  Does  it  not 
become  clear  to  you  that  since  our  gov- 
ernment was  betrayed  into  the  attempt 
to  cut  in  half  the  wor  d’s  supp’y  of  money 
metals  through  the  treacherous  and  un- 
derhanded aemoneUzation  of  silver  in 
1873,  thus  appreciating  ever  more  and 
more  the  purchasing  power  of  gold,  that 
we  have  been  and  are  taking  gteps  back- 
ward at  a very  rapid  rate?  Anarchy  rears 
its  terrible  head;  extensive  and  expensive 
struggles  between  lato.-  snd  capital;  f.e- 
quent  armed  conflicts  between  troops  and 
strikers.  Before  1873  we  rare  y saw  a 
tramp;  to-day  these  unfortunates  number 
legions.  Before  1873  we  rarely  saw  one 

and  this  in  an  irrefutable  form.  I am 
greatly  indebted  to  him  for  assistance  in 
compiling  the  list  of  50  questions  found 
in  other  pages  of  this  pamphlet. 


unable  to  procure  employment;  repeated- 
ly since  then  and  for  long  periods  do 
we  witness  the  saddest  of  sights — great 
numbers  of  men  and  women  anxious  to 
labor,  but  unable  to  secure  this  oppor- 
tunity, which  should  at  all  times  be  rreely 
accorded  to  every  one.  Ia  this  civilisa- 
tion or  is  it  a relapse  into  worse  than  bar- 
barism? We  Americans  do  not  look  back 
600  years  for  an  ideal  type  of  civilization. 
We  grant  without  argument  that  for  a 
century  prior  to  1873  our  condition,  and 
that  of  the  world  under  bi-metallism 
wau  far  preferable  to  the  present  wretch- 
ed existence  which  the  great  mass  ef 
people  eke  out. 

We  will,  then,  return  to  bi-metallism 
as  a preliminary  move  to  other  steps  for- 
ward, for  I repeat  the  standard  of  civili- 
zation during  the  past  600  years  does  not 
satisfy  the  aspirations  of  we  Americans. 
Though  cabinet  officers  of  our  President 
n ay  think  otherwise  we  believe  that  our 
nation  will  become  the  home  of  a happier, 
freer  and  more  nrosperous  people  than  this 
suffering,  saddened  world  has  seen  for 
many  thousands  of  years.  We  even  be- 
lieve that  this  is  the  divine  purpose  of  the 
Lord  God  Almighty.  With  His  help  we  will 
learn  from  the  dire  disasters  of  the  present 
and  past,  as  we  strive  by  careful  study  of 
the  inexorable  laws  of  economics  to  solve 
the  momentous  problems  which  confront 
our  nation.  As  we  labor,  we  will  look  up- 
ward, not  down;  we  will  keep  cur  face 
to  the  future  civilization,  and  in  build- 
ing its  foundations  broad  and  deep  we  will 
avoid  the  errors  and  pitfalls  of  the  so- 
called  civilisations  of  the  past.  With  truer 
insight  into  the  unchangeable  laws  of  Na- 
tures’ God  there  will  come  a melting  away 
of  the  debasing  strifes  of  the  past  and 
present.  A conception,  faint  at  first,  but 
growing,  expanding,  becoming  more  and 
more  intense,  more  and  more  lucid,  will 
sway  us,  control  us,  and  lead  us  aright — 
will  lead  us  into  the  path  of  true  advance- 
ment, will  urge  us  to  seek  Divine  assist- 
ance as  we  labor  to  purify,  to  ennoble,  to 
elevate  ourselves  and  the  race. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN, 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Phila.,  Pa. 


I will  not  here  digress  to  comment  upon 
the  character  of  men  like  Senator  Sherman 
and  Secretary  Carlisle.  We  have  honored, 
even  venerated  these  men,  but  they  and 
their  confederates,  fully  understanding  the 
enormity  of  the  unjust  and  inhuman  gold 
standard  money  system  with  which  eur 
nation  has  been  afflicted  are  seeking  to 
rivet  it  forever  upon  our  suffering  coun- 
try. They  have  betrayed  and  are  betraying 
the  sacred  trust  placed  in  their  keeping, 
viz.:  THE  EQUITABLE  CONDUCT  OF 
PUBLIC  AFFAIRS  FOR  THE  EQUAL 
BENEFIT  AND  ADVANTAGE  OF  ALL 
CITIZENS.  Whoever  will  send  their  name 
and  address  to  me,  with  the  implied  un- 
derstanding that  they  will  earnestly  con- 
sider the  contents  of  documents  sent  them 
and  circulate  same  after  reading,  will  be 
supplied  free  of  charge  by  mail.  Those 
who  desire  to  delve  still  deeper  Into  the 
infamy  of  the  treacherous  and  inhuman 
course  of  various  gold-controlled  officers. 
Congressmen  and  Senators  of  our  Govern- 


27 


ment,  past  and  present,  can  remit  what- 
ever Bum  they  desire  and  a proportionate 
quantity  of  high-grade  works  of  the  most 
reliable  and  well  authenticated  oharaoter 
Will  be  forwarded  to  them  bearing  upon 
all  phases  of  the  foul  chain  of  financial 
plotting  whloh,  beginning  during  the  ex- 
tensive financial  transactions  of  our  Gov- 
ernment caused  by  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion, have  continued  down  to  the  present 
culmination  or  crisis. 


Philadelphia,  August  29,  1895. 

J.  Sterling  Morion,  Esq., 

Washington,  D.  0. 

Dear  Sir: — In  your  letter  t'  me  of 
June  19,  you  state  that  “Japan,  after 
experimenting  disastrously  with  bi-met- 
allsm,  adopted  a single  gold  standard  in 
1872,  with  a sliver  as  a subsidiary  cur- 
rency and  a legal  tender  for  about  $10.” 
In  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  of  August  2, 
there  appears  a lengthy  interview  with 
a prominent  citizen  of  our  oity.  He  1b  in 
accord  witn  yeu  upon  the  money  question, 
being  a Gold-standard  man,  but  if  his 
statements  regarding  th#  money  in  circu- 
lation in  Japan  are  acourate,  you  should 
correct  your  statement  quoted  aoove. 

Mr.  Blankenburg  says:  ‘‘I  think  that  If 
some  of  the  free  dilverites  that  are  mak- 
ing so  much  noise  Just  now  would  go  to 
Japan  and  study,  for  two  or  three  months, 
the  currency  conditions  prevailing  there, 
we  would  hear  much  lesa  talk  oi  coining 
silver  at  its  own  value.  There  Is  not  a 
uoilar  of  gold  In  circulation  there.  The 
silver  coins  stand  by  themselves;  their 
value  is  not  fixed  by  gold  at  all.  A silver 
piece  is  worth  just  so  much  uncoined  sli- 
ver. Their  dollar  has  exactly  the  same 
amount  of  silver  in  It  as  our  own  has, 
but  it  buys  only  half  as  much.  The  Ameri- 
can dollar  is  redeemable  in  gold;  the  Jap- 
anese dollar  is  not:  that  makes  all  the  dif- 
ference.” 

In  addition  to  these  positive  statements, 
Mr.  Blankenburg  goes  on  and  makes  some 
pertinent  observations  and  predictions,  of 
a character  which  may  properly  rivet  the 
earnest  attention  of  every  American  citi- 
zen and  wage  earner.  They  will,  in  fact, 
induce  many  of  them  to  disagree  with  you 
and  your  Philadelphia  friend  regarding  the 
advisability  of  our  nation's  adhering  to  its 
present  vicloua  gold  monometallic  currency 
system.  Mr.  Blankenburg  visited  tho 
Japan  National  Exposition,  and  states  that 
ho  found  it  very  much  like  the  Chicago 
Exposition  in  many  ways.  He  says; 
"Everything  made  in  Japan  was  there  on 
exhibition.  The  country  is  wonderfully  ad- 
vanced in  manufactures,  and  in  the  lines 
it  has  taken  up  will  prove  the  greatest 
competitor  of  England,  France,  Germany 
and  the  United  States.  The  labor  iB  cneap; 
the  people  work  16  hours  a day  and  think 
nothing  of  it.  They  are  intolligent  and 
even  clever.  Who  knows  what  may  come 
of  it?  The  tea  crop  is  not  good  this  year, 
but  the  Bilk  yield  will  be  large.  All  coun- 
tries will  feel  the  powerful  competition  of 
Japan.  The  exportation  of  Bilk  will  be 
very  large.  Unless  Japanese  wages  go  up 
there  will  be  no  salvation  for  other  coun- 
tries. They  simply  cannot  compete  with 
them.” 

Mr.  Blankenburg,  with  equal  accuracy. 


could  have  added:  Japan,  In  common  with 
silver  currency  nations,':  ft  rally,  con- 

tinually imports  less  &nd> ' toss  -of  'tU  • 
manufactured  products;,  and  -jjxporiAr  vpoiw 
and  more.  If  Mr.  Blankenburg  and  your- 
self would  but  give  a moment  of  reason- 
able consideration  to  this  issue,  one  fact 
would  rapidly  become  self-evident — that  is, 
that  we  Gold-standard  nations  have  a 
most  vital  interest  In  the  ratio  of  value 
existing  between  the  two  money  metals, 
gold  and  silver,  for  as  gold  buys  more 
silver,  every  gold  dollar,  and  every  dol- 
lar of  any  gold  standard  currency  like 
our  own,  must  buy  in  the  same  propor- 
tion more  and  more  of  all  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  silver  currency  nations  like  Ja- 
pan. I have  already  shown  the  vicious  ef- 
fects of  this  financial  trick  of  English 
planning  upon  all  classes  of  our  citizens, 
regardless  of  the  character  of  their  vo- 
cations. A new  and  startling  danger, 
however,  threatens.  If  wage  earners  will 
read  Mr.  Blankenburg’s  frank  admissions 
regarding  the  unquestioned  effects  of  the 
present  and  future  competition  of  the 
industries  of  silver  currency  countries 
with  our  own,  they  will  not  speculate,  as 
Mr.  Blankenburg  does,  in  the  phrase: 
"Who  knows  what  may  come  of  it?" 

Our  wage  earners  will  recognize  at  once 
what  will  come  of  it  The  deplorable  con- 
dition of  our  farming  classes  is  a most 
effective  example.  They  have  experienced 
the  blighting  effects  of  competition  with 
the  products  of  silver  currency  countries, 
In  walch  countries  a given  weight  of  coin- 
ed or  uncoined  silver  maintains  its  full 
purchasing  value.  Our  industrial  classes 
nave  also  suffered,  but  their  troubles  are 
only  beginning;  for,  unless  we  can  raise 
the  standard  of  wages  of  all  laborers  and 
operative#  of  silver  currency  countries, 
the  wages  of  our  own  operatives  and  la- 
borers will  Inevitably  be  forced  down. 

When  every  American  wage  earner  be- 
gins to  realize  that  each  depreciation  ip 
the  value  of  sliver,  as  compared  with 
gold,  is  equivalent  to  a cut-down  in  tho 
amount  of  wages  o / every  laborer  and 
mechanic  In  silver  currency  countries,  aa 
oom pared  with  the  wages  paid  in  our 
Gold-standard  nation,  American  wage 
earners  will  demand  that  our  Government 
remonetize  silver,  and  thus  restore  lfc*  old 
aud  true  value,  aa  compared  with  gold, 
and  also  raise  the  wag  os  of  all  of  ie 
teeming  millions  of  silver  currency  «oun- 
tric*  exactly  100  per  cent.,  aa  compared 
with  wages  paid  here.  American  wage 
earners  must  choose  between  remonetiz- 
ing silver  or  they  must  eventually  sub- 
mit to  a 50  per  cent,  cut  in  their  own 
wages. 

The  following  is  from  the  semi-weekly 
report  of  Legal,  Financial  and  Commercial 
Information  of  August  28,  1895:  "Messrs. 
E.  T.  Mason  & Co.,  of  New  York,  the  well- 
known  Japanese  sfik  Importing  house,  are 
engaged  in  shipping  raw  cotton  to  Japan. 
There  is  food  for  reflection  in  this  fact 
both  for  English  and  American  manufac- 
tures. Labor  In  Japan  Is  about  33^  per 
cent,  of  what  labor  1b  in  England  (bear 
In  mind  that  even  these  ridiculously  low 
wages  are  paid  in  sliver!),  and  English  la- 
bor is  about  55  per  cent,  of  what  Is  paid  to 
the  American  operator.  The  Japanese  are 
as  deft  and  handy  in  this  class  of  work 


28 


as  the  English  or  Americans;  and,  as  her 
formation  ' is  fiarger  than  that  of  Great 
rrTtalri.  the  near  future  will  find  Japan  one 
»f  the  most  ugly  competitors  that  Man- 
chester or  America  has  ever  encountered. 
Competition  with  Japanese  silk  is  practi- 
cally out  of  the  question  for  either  Lyons 
in  France,  or  Paterson  in  our  own  coun- 
try. What  Japan  has  succeeded  in  doing 
in  silks  she  unquestionably  will  do  in  cot- 
tons.” 

Our  citizens  can  well  understand  your 
strong  desire  to  suppress  this  correspond- 
ence, as  false  statement  after  statement 
is  exposed  by  unquestioned  facts.  You  may 
evade  logical  reasoning,  but  a fact  is  a 
fact,  ana  cannot  be  sneered  out  of  ex- 
istence, The  American  people  love  fair 
tilay  and  reasonable  consideration.  They 
will  insist  upon  you  meeting  this  issue 
■which  you  have  so  repeatedly  invited  by 
#Our  aggressive  letters  in  favor  of  a 
•ingle  gold  standard,  or  they  will  heap 
upon  you  the  full  measure  of  contempt 
tfTat  your  unmanly  conduct  merits.  Mr. 
Blankenburg  may  be  honestly  in  error 
regarding  the  currency  issue,  but  unless 
you  will  promptly  correct  you  false  as- 
sertion, that  Japan  is  upon  a Gold-stand- 
grd  basis,  we  will  be  compelled  to  brand 

ou  as  utterly  untruthful  and  unworthy  of 

elief  (13). 

One  pertinent  fact  is  entirely  ignored  by 
Mr.  Blankenburg;  that  is,  just  as  soon  as 
cur  Government  remonetized  silver,  our 
dollars  would  purchase  but  about  one 
half  the  quantity  of  silver  bullion  which 


(13)  Mr.  R.  Blankenburg,  of  our  city. 
Is  taking  a most  active  part  in  the  pres- 
ent campaign,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  fol- 
lowing notice  from  the  Gold  - standard 
Philadelphia  Press  of  July  31: 

“Rudolph  Blankenburg  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
McKinley  and  Hobart  Business  Men’s  Na- 
tional Campaign  Committee  were  yester- 
day hard  at  work  at  the  Bourse  head- 
quarters. 

“On  Monday  the  work  of  distributing 
literature  will  be  commenced,  and  it  is 
the  committee’s  intention  to  flood  every 
town  in  tms  Siate  witn  good  sound-money 
reading  matter  upon  this  momentous  ques- 
tion. Yesterday  the  time  was  chiefly  em- 
ployed in  engaging  stenographers,  clerks 
and  typewriters  and  mapping  out  plai  3 
for  the  coming  work.” 

He  is  a most  fluent  speaker;  he  has  vis't- 
•d  New  York  and  other  sections  seeking 
to  organize  business  men’s  associations 
to  aid  in  the  suicidal  policy  of  maintain- 
ing and  perpetuating  the  bankruptcy- 
breeding gold  standard.  It  will  afford  me 
much  pleasure  to  meet  Mr.  Blankenburg 
In  a series  of  courteous  joint  debates  in 
New  lorn  city  ana  ^niiaaeipina.  it  lie 
has  the  courage  of  his  convictions  he  cer- 
tainly should  not  hesitate  to  signify  his 
willingness  to  meet  me  before  audiences 
of  American  business  men.  In  this  man- 
ner he  can  by  showing  the  absurdity  of 
bi-metallism  render  able  aid  to  supplement 
the  effects  of  the  flood  of  sound,  Gold- 
Standard  literature  which  his  committee 
is  about  to  distribute  so  plentifully.  I 
heartily  agree  with  him  that  the  issue 
is  a most  momentous  one  and  calls  for 
earnest  and  thoughtful  consideration. 


they  do  at  present,  and  that,  therefore 
Mr.  Blankenburg  and  other  importer* 
could  purchase  but  one-half  of  the  amount 

of  Japanese  goods  which  they  can  at 

S resent  purchase  for  a given  sum  of  ouf 
old-standard  currency.  Securing  less 
goods  for  their  money  they  would  not 
find  it  profitable  to  import  so  many  line! 
ot  goods  Irom  Japan,  in  short,  our  own 
operators  would  have  an  opportunity  to 
make  some  or  all  of  the  goods  which  are 
at  present  being  manufactured  in  Japan 
for  the  American  market. 

During  the  last  year,  Japan  and  Ching 
supplied  the  American  market  with  400, 000 
rolls  of  mattings.  During  the  last  year 
many  American  weavers  of  carpets  stood 
idle.  Every  roll  of  matting  takes  the 
place  of  a roll  of  carpet.  Formerly  juto 
rags  were  largely  manufactured  by  Ameri- 
can factories,  but  as  gold  bought  more  and 
more  silver,  every  American  doLar  bought 
more  and  more  of  the  Japanese  rugs,  until 
at  present  the  Japanese  manufacturers, 
after  paying  the  duty  levied  upon  all 
imported  rugs,  undersell  the  American 
manufacturers  so  that  they  have  been 
compelled  to  abandon  the  manufacture  of 
jute  rugs  entirely. 

What  has  become  of  our  workingmen 
who  formerly  made  the  rugs,  carpets,  etc., 
which  are  now,  througn  this  n.nglish- 
planned  knavery,  made  in  Japan?  With 
our  vicious  financial  system,  a man  who 
is  at  present  thrown  out  of  employment 
can  not  readily  find  remunerative  work 
again.  In  almost  every  branch  of  trade 
and  industry  the  Japanese  are  pusning 
forward  with  remarkable  zeal  and  vigor. 
Ten  years  ago  the  whole  Japanese  trad* 
amounted  to  but  $78,000,000;  last  year  it 
had  Increased  to  $300,000,000.  The  export 
of  textiles  alone  has  increased  from  $oll,« 
000  to  $23,000,000.  Hon.  Robert  P.  Porter, 
ex-3upenntendent  of  ll.  S.  Census,  after 
personally  investigating  the  industrial 
condition  with  regard  to  Japanese  com* 
petition  upon  American  prosperity,  states 
that  he  “deems  the  question  of  Japanese 
competition  one  of  the  most  momentoun 
problems  that  the  American  nation  hat 
to  solve.” 

The  hard  and  distressing  times  which 
visit  our  own  Gold-standard  nation  are 
unknown  in  silver  currency  countries,  an£ 
still  you  would  have  us  perpetuate  th« 
infamous  gold  standard  of  money  and 
endeavor  to  lead  us  to  believe  that  the 
finances  of  progressive  and  prosperous 
Japan  are  founded  upon  the  same  vicious, 
distress-breeding  basis. 

W7e  must  conquer  the  currency  problem 
or  it  will  conquer  us.  Writh  God’s  help  we 
will  conquer  it  and  carry  our  cause 
against  the  selfish,  allied  money  powers  of 
the  world.  I am  only  a human  being, 
weak,  lacking,  and  erring  more  ratner 
than  less  than  others  of  our  race;  but 
dally  I believe  more  firmly  in  the  Father- 
hood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man! 
At  present  all  appears  to  be  chaotic,  but 
our  Heavenly  Father’s  Divine  Love  ana 
WTisdom  will  yet  shine  forth  and  bring 
order  out  of  chaos.  Tho  silver  question,  lg 
not  a political  movement.  It  is  a moral  and 
religious  problem  of  overwhelming  signifi- 
cance. When  the  Issue  Is  fairly  stated  to 
our  nation,  patriotism  will  rise  above  par- 
tisanship. Perceptions  from  and  of  God 
will  rise  superior  to  dogma  and  to  creed! 


29 


“God  and  Our  Native  Land!”  will  be  the 
rallying-cry  of  our  cause ! From  out  of  the 
vUe,  degrading  and  ever  hellish  conditions 
whloh  now  prevail  and  are  apparently  tri- 
umphant, there  will  arise  an  era  of  peace 
and  goodwill  to  fellow-man — an  everlasting 
reign  of  loving  and  wisdom-seeking  gov- 
ernment, here  upon  this  saddened  and 

Jong  suffering  earth.  Humanity,  not  in- 
lumanity,  will  triumph.  Principles  born 
of  Heaven  will  conquer  and  subdue  the  in- 
saneiv  sordid  and  hellish  designs  of  ac- 
cumulated wealth.  The  American  people 
will  demand  and  insist  upon  reasonable 
and  rational  consideration.  Upon  that  basis 
our  own  cowardly  and  un-American  con- 
uct  discloses  the  inevitable  result.  Truth 
is  from  God:  it  is  mighty  and  will  prevail! 
Most  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Phila.,  Pa. 

M’KINLEY’S  FORMER  COWARDICE— 
HIS  PRESENT  BRAVERY. 
“Recent  events  have  imposed  upon  the 
atriotic  people  of  this  country  a responsi- 
ility  and  a duty  greater  than  any  since 
the  Civil  War.  Then  it  was  a struggle  lo 
reserve  the  Government  of  the  United 
tates.  Now  it  is  a struggle  to  preserve 
the  financial  honor  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  Then  it  was  a contest 
to  save  the  Union.  Now  it  is  a contest  to 
save  spotless  its  credit.  Then  section  was 
arrayed  against  section.  Now  men  of  all 
sections  can  unite,  and  will  unite,  to  re- 
buke the  repudiation  of  our  obligations 
and  the  debasement  of  our  currency.  > 
William  McKinley. 

We  Americans  love  men  who  have  the 
courage  of  their  convictions.  Every  in- 
telligent voter  knows  that  prior  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention, which  nominated  him  as  per  con- 
tract with  Mr.  Mark  Hanna,  William  Mc- 
Kinley, though  requested  repeatedly,  feared 
to  express  or  commit  himself  regarding 
the  money  issue. 

To-day  the  bankers  and  manipulators 
of  both  parties  are  rallying  around  Mc- 
Kinley— how  boldly  he  now  speaks  for 
gold!  Let  each  American  citizen  ask  him- 
self why  it  is  that  the  moneyed  and  cor- 
poration cliques  favor  McKinley?  Do  not 
be  decelvad  by  the  tariff  cry.  The  ablest 
economic  thinkers  are  in  accord  in  stat- 
ing that  IT  IS  IMPOSSIBLE  FOR  US  TO 
MAINTAIN  A TRULY  PROTECTIVE 
TARIFF  WHILST  WE  HOLD  TO  THE 
ENGLISH  GOLD  STANDARD. 

Read  the  following  from  tho  columns 
of  the  Philadelphia  Times,  of  July  29,  & 
Gold-standard,  free-trade  paper,  which  is 
now  supporting  McKinley.  Notice  the 
fraternal  accord  between  the  Republican 
Governov  Griggs,  of  New  Jersey,  and  the 
old-time  moneyed  manipulator  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  Mr.  Whitney,  of  New  York 
Read  and  then  decide:  Whom  shall  Amer- 
icans support— Mr.  McKinley,  whose  dou- 
ble-faced attitude  upon  the  money  ques- 
tion wo  are  all  thoroughly  oonversant  with, 
or  William  J.  Bryan,  the  outspoken  cham- 
pion of  American  rule,  who,  prior  to  the 
Chicago  invention,  never  hesitated  to 
state  that  he  would  not  support  an  Eng- 
lish Gold  Democrat?  Old  party  lines  are 


down.  THE  ISSUE  IS  AMERICAN  SHA- 
VER AND  AMERICAN  PROSPERITY  VS. 
ENGLISH  GOLD  AND  THE  DOMINA- 
TION 6W  THE  BANKING  AND  CORPO- 
RATION INFLUENCES  AND  GREED. 
The  enemies  of  the  people  have  united. 
Let  the  following  sample  utterance  from 
the  Philadelphia  Times  warn  and  unite 
the  people’ 

“Governor  Griggs,  of  New  Jersey,  struck 
the  marrow  of  the  great  issue  before  the 
American  people  and  defined  the  duty  of 
every  patriotic  citizen  when  he  said  in  a 
recent  public  letter:  'I  believe  in  a pro- 
tective tariff,  but  I would  sooner  a thou- 
sand times  live  under  a sound-money,  free- 
trade  administration  than  under  a free  sil- 
ver administration,  even  if  it  favored  pro- 
tection.’ 

“This  declaration  by  one  of  the  most  in- 
telligent, influential  and  progressive  of  the 
Republican  leaders  of  the  East  is  in  per- 
fect accord  with  the  patriotic  deliverance 
recently  made  by  Mr.  Whitney,  in  which 
he  appealed  to  the  patriotic  men  of  all 
parties  to  sink  minor  political  issues  until 
the  honor  and  safety  of  the  nation  are 
positively  assured.” 

Gold-standard  advocates,  like  Governor 
Griggs  and  Mr.  Whitney,  seek  to  play  upon 
the  feelings  of  voters  by  appeal  for  sound, 
honest  gold  money  and  the  honor  and 
safety  of  our  nation.  WILL  THEY  KIND- 
LY INFORM  US  WHY  AMERICAN  SIL- 
VER IS  NOT  AS  SOUND  AND  HONEST 
AS  BRITISH  GOLD? 


REPORT  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL 
COMMITTEE. 

"Notwithstanding  Japan’s  progress  in 
the  Industrial  arts,  the  committee  do  not 
find  that  any  articles  of  importance  made 
by  factory  methods  in  Japan,  outside  of 
cheap  silks,  handkerchiefs,  mattings,  rugs, 
etc.,  have  as  yet  invaded  the  markets  or 
the  United  States.  They  think  it  probable 
that  the  rapid  introduction  of  machinery 
into  Japan  will  within  a few  years  make 
Japanese  factory  products  a more  serious 
competitor  in  our  markets  than  those  of 
Great  Britain,  France  or  Germany,  for 
the  reason  that  Japanese  wages  are  lower 
than  European  wages,  and  Japanese  labor 
likely  soon  to  beoome  as  effective  with 
machinery  as  European  labor  is.”— Phila- 
delphia Public  Ledger  (Goldite),  June  10, 
1896. 

“We  boast  of  having  liberated  4,000,000 
of  slaves.  True,  we  have  stricken  the 
Bhackles  from  the  former  bondsmen  and 
brought  all  laborers  to  a common  level, 
but  not  so  much  by  elevating  the  for- 
mer slaves  as  by  practically  reducing  the 
whole  working  population  to  a state  of 
serfdom.  While'  boasting  of  our  noble 
deeds  we  are  careful  to  conceal  the  ugly 
faot  that  by  our  iniquitous  monetary 
system  we  have  nationalized  a system  of 
oppression  more  refined,  but  none  the 
less  cruel  than  the  old  system  of  chattel 
slavery.” — Horace  Greeley. 

"I  am  not  amongst  those  who  fear  the 

people;  they,  and  not  the  non,  are  our 

dependence  for  continued  freedom.  And  to 
preserve  their  independence  we  must  not 


30 


let  our  rulers  load  us  with  perpetual 

debts.” — Thomas  Jefferson. 

(Under  Cleveland’s  Administration  the 
public  (perpetual)  debt  has  increased  $2«£,- 
000,000.  Cleveland  desires  that  Congress 
Should  authorize  the  issue  of  additional 
hundreds  of  millions  of  bonds  in  order 
to  retire  greenbacks,  the  people’s  money, 
from  circulation.  Contrast  Cleveland’s 
Democracy  with  Jefferson’s  Democracy!) 

“Double  the  volume  of  money;  you  dou- 
ble the  value  of  products. 

Divide  the  volume  of  money,  and  you 
divide  the  value  of  products. 

Divide  the  volume  of  money;  you  double 
the  debt  . 

Double  the  volume  of  money,  and  you 
divide  the  debt.” 

—Joseph  C.  Sibley,  United  States  Con- 
gressman. 

“For  whose  benefit  is  such  a system  of 
money?  To  no  one  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth  except  the  great  money  loaners  and 
fund  holders,  and  to  the  capitalist  who 
seeks  to  make  the  whole  world  the  market 
for  his  manuiacuires,  AND  WHO  WOULD 
DEGRADE  OUR  LABOR  TO  A PRICE 
AS  LOW  AS  THAT  OF  THE  IMPOVER- 
ISHED LAND  AND  FACTORY  SLAVES 
OF  EUROPE,  by  means  of  a system  of 
money  that  will  force  them  there,  as  piti- 
lessly as  an  ox  is  forced  to  the  sham- 
bles;”— H.  H.  nryant  (I6i»,> — another  veri- 
fied prediction. 

“The  greatest  discovery  of  my  life  is 
that  the  men  who  do  the  work  never  get 
rich.” — Anarew  Carnegie  (who  favors  a 
gold  standard  for  American  money  and 
whose  workmen  are  being  rapidly  forced 
to  the  level  of  the  laborers  of  England). 

“Women  within  a few  days  of  their 
confinement  have  been  known  to  work  in 
the  agony  of  exhaustion  in  order  to  earn 
a few  pence  at  the  hearth — not  the  hearth 
of  home,  but  the  hearth  of  the  forge;  they 
have  been  known  to  return  to  work  in  a 
day  or  two  after  childbirth,  emaciated  in 
constitution,  weak  and  weary  for  the 
wont  of  simple  nourishment.  Their  chil- 
dren, ragged  and  ill-fed,  have  to  lead 
miserable  and  wretched  lives,  with  no 
hope  before  them  but  a life  of  wicked- 
ness and  vice.”  — ‘‘The  Breadwinners 
Abroad,”  Chapter  48,  on  England,  by  Rob- 
ert P.  Porter,  ex-Superintendent  of  U.  S. 
Census). 

Philadelphia,  Sept.  23,  1895. 

J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq.. 

Washington,  D.  O. 

Dear  Sir: — In  concluding  my  few  incom- 
plete observations  upon  this  inexhaustible 
them®,  I wish  to  bring  hom#  to  every 
Citizen  the  hypocrisy  and  duplicity  of  those 
Hnglish-American  statesmen  who  pose  as 
honest  advocates  of  a sound  national  cur- 
rency. In  the  Public  Ledger,  of  Philadel- 

f)kia,  under  date  of  August  19,  1895,  there 
b published  a special  dispatch  from  Wash- 
ington, of  which  the  following  is  an  ex- 
tract: “The  Virginia  State  Grange  is  to 
listen  on  Thursday  to  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture Morton,  who  is  to  make  the  lead- 
ing address  to  the  organization.  * • • 

Mr.  Morton’s  address  will  be  in  great  part, 


a discussion  of  economic  subjects  particu- 
larly of  the  sound  money  question.  He  is, 
as  Is  well  known,  a very  strong  advocate 
of  the  single  gold  standard,  and  has  the 
courage  of  his  convictions.” 

We  can  all  properly  estimate  the  degree 
"of  the  courage  of  your  convictions,” 
and  of  your  manhood  and  sincerity  as 
well,  by  referring  to  your  cowardly  let- 
ter to  me  under  date  of  July  2,  wherein 
you  make  the  very  lame  and  flimsy  ex- 
cuse of  “lack  of  time,”  a pretense  for 
evading  the  continuance  of  our  corre- 
spondence upon  the  very  subject  which 
the  fulsome  flattery  of  the  Gold-standard 
paper  just  quoted  would  have  us  all  be- 
lieve you  were  and  are  so  eager  to  dis- 
cuss and  consider.  The  time  has  arrived 
when  every  citizen  should  be  brought  to 
a realization  of  the  unquestioned  fact  that 
your  Gold-standard  men  and  your  Gold- 
controlled  newspapers  and  subsidized  or- 
gans fear  open,  reasonable  consideration, 
and  favor  and  practice  the  suppression  or 
facts  and  truths  which  tend  to  over- 
throw your  unpatriotic  and  unprincipled 
conspiracy.  If  you  are  so  very,  very 
busy  that  you  cannot  find  time  to  write, 
say,  one  letter  each  week  upon  this  na- 
tional issue  of  overwhelming  importance, 
I hope  that  you  can  induce  President 
Cleveland  to  occasionally  forego  a fishing 
trip  in  order  to  pen  a public  communica- 
tion so  that  this  combat  of  reasonable 
and  rational  consideration  may  continue. 

Nero  fiddled  whilst  Rome  burned.  Cleve- 
land fishes  whilst  suffering,  degradation 
and  sinfulness,  engendered  by  vicious,  un- 
patriotic, and  un-American  legislation,  in- 
spired and  supported  by  his  Executive  in- 
fluence and  patronage,  have  stalked 
through  our  onoe  prosperous  land.  If 
President  Cleveland  is  too  muoh  engross- 
ed in  his  important  pleasure  Junkets, 
perhaps  he  might  condescend  to  desire 
his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Car- 
lisle. to  take  up  the  task  which  was  so  in- 
glorlously  relinquished  by  you,  his  com- 
panion Cabinet  uifioer.  Mr*  Carlisle  seems 
to  nave  an  abundance  of  time,  as  in  the 
intervals  between  his  periodic  bond  is- 
sues, he  visits  different  sections  to  speak 
upon  this  subject,  and  from  the  gold 
barons’  standpoint. 

If  the  public  officials  of  our  National 
Government  are  so  utterly  lost  to  a sense 
of  their  unquestioned  duty  as  public  ser- 
vants, perhaps  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  of  the 
syndicate  which  so  patriotioally  aided  our 
Government  by  furnishing  gold  to  our 
Imperiled  treasury  at  a trifling  profit  of 
many  millions  of  dollars  for  himself  and 
his  associates,  will  take  up  the  task  of 
scouring  a Gold-standard  advocate  who 
will  overwhelm  with  logical  and  accurate 
reasoning  the  “impractical  fad,”  as  you 
term  our  Constitutional  Free-Silver  move- 
ment. For  mygelf,  with  my  limited  abil- 
ity, I will  always  stand  ready  to  prove  by 
the  soundest  and  fairest  of  reasoning  that 
our  aims  are  not  alone  just  and  equitable, 
but  that  they  are  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  of  patriotism  as  well. 

I will  be  pleased  to  meet  you  or  any 
other  able  advocate  of  gold  in  a series  of 
Joint  debates.  Will  logically  and  accur- 
ately answer  all  relevant  questions  and 
show  by  the  irrefutable  laws  of  econom- 
ics that  the  cause  of  silver  and  the  inter- 
ests of  every  true  American  citizen  are 


31 


Identical.  W®  must  and  will  declare  our 
financial  independence  of  the  wealth 
leeches  of  the  world,  the  capitalistic  ring 
Of  England.  Our  citizens  are  aroused  and 
will  brook  no  interference  with  their 
resolute  purpose.  To  date,  the  financial 
legislation  of  nations  has  been  moulded 
and  shaped  by  a small  clique  of  selfish, 
grasping  capitalists;  from  date,  the  people 
will  study  and  grasp  the  fundamental 
truths  of  finance  and  mould  and  shape 
our  national  legislation  upon  them.  To 
date,  our  financial  legislation  has  enriched 
and  benefited  the  unscrupulous  few  at  the 
expense  of  the  many;  from  date,  our  na- 
tional financial  legislation  will  benefit  the 
many.  The  unscrupulous  few  will  be 
treated  with  justice.  The  iniquitous  class 
legislation  of  1873  will  be  repealed;  silver 
must  be  re-monetized  unless  our  people 
are  to  go  down  into  everlasting  financial 
bondage. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN. 

P.  O.  Box  956. 


GREETING  ! 


To  the  Justice  - Loving  Voters  of  Our 
Country: 

In  the  earlier  months  of  the  year  1895, 
the  columns  of  all  the  great  daily  news- 
papers were  most  industriously  util- 
ized in  the  discussion  of  the  money  ques- 
tion by  J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq.,  Secretary 
of  Agriculture,  President  Cleveland’s  Cab- 
inet. Mr.  Morton  was  and  is  a most  lusty 
champion  of  the  gold  standard  and  freely 
corresponded  with  citizens  from  all  sec- 
tions. Judging  from  the  great  number  of 
his  letters  which  had  been  widely  pub- 
lished and  commented  upon,  that  his  views 
were  authorized  and  endorsed  by  President 
Cleveland,  I proposed  to  members  of  our 
board  of  directors  that  we  request  Mr. 
Morton  to  conduct  an  open  correspondence 
with  our  association  in  order  that  calm 
and  unbiased  consideration  could  be  given 
to  the  varied  phases  of  the  all-important 
currency  problem  which  Is  properly  agita- 
ting our  nation.  I was  promptly  informed 
that  the  eagerness  of  Mr.  Morton  to  con- 
duct correspondence  upon  the  subject  was 
but  feigned,  or  assumed,  and  that  a chal- 
lenge emanating  from  our  association 
would  in  all  likelihood  find  Its  wav  un- 
answered Into  his  waste  paper  basket.  I 
was  advised  to  address  him  without  mak- 
ing the  slightest  allusion  to  our  associa- 
tion In  order  to  best  assure  a reply. 

The  fact  that  our  honorabl©  Secretary 
of  Agriculture  suddenly  became  so  much 
occupied  that  he  was  unable  to  find  suffi- 
cient time  to  continue  corresponding  upon 
a subject  of  greatest  importance  to  our 
farmers  in  particular  and  also  to  our  citi- 
zens generally  seems  to  fully  bear  out  the 
accuracy  of  the  views  imparted  to  me 
that  his  apparently  strong  desire  for  free 
and  fair  discussion  was  but  assumed,  es- 
pecially as  he  refuses  to  answer  even  one 
of  the  many  direct  questions  which  were 
aBked  him.  We  Americans  love  fair  play — 
we  detest  dishonesty,  deceit  and  evasion. 
These  very  facts  account  in  considerable 
degree  for  the  reluctance  with  which  some 


of  our  citizens  permit  themselves  to  con- 
sider the  silvor  question  in  the  light  of 
reason,  as  it  and  all  other  economic  issues 
should  be  viewed.  We  are  instinctively  in 
favor  of  honest  money.  Many  do  not  as 
yet  realize  that  the  term  honest  money,  as 
applied  to  the  gold  standard,  is  merely  a 
delusive  catch  word  dishonestly  employed 
in  order  to  mislead  and  confuse  straight- 
forward Americans,  but  light  is  breaking 
in  upon  our  citizens. 

The  free  and  uitxammelled  editors  of 
the  United  States — those  not  subsidized  by 
the  monometallists  and  the  gold  barons — 
are  beginning  to  render  them  valuable 
aid  in  looking  upon  the  money  question 
in  its  proper  light.  Such  journals  as 
The  Pittsburg  Post 
The  Philaedlphia  Item 
The  Cincinnati  Enquirer 
The  Cleveland  Plain-Dealer 
The  Minneapolis  Penny  Press 
The  New  York  Morning  Journal 
and  others  whose  proprietors,  managers, 
and  editors  are  men  of  unquestioned 
honor,  and  who  are  known  to  be  free 
from  the  vitiating  influence  of  the  Gold- 
standard  bankers  and  money-lenders,  and 
whose  records,  reputation,  and  conduct 
have  always  been  of  a character  to  war- 
rant their  being  regarded  in  the  light  of 
dlsinteested  well-wishers  for  the  people’s 
good,  are  doing  immense  service  for  an 
immense  number  of  our  thinking  voters, 
who  are  beginning  to  perceive  that  they 
must  view  this  all-important  problem  from 
o tiler  sources  than  the  columns  of  bitterly 
prejudiced  and  malignantly-partisan  Gold- 
standard  newspapers.  This  desire  for  In- 
sight and  understanding  will  continue  un- 
til the  great  mass  of  our  intelligent  voter* 
will  become  so  thoroughly  educated  upon 
the  important  maxims  of  TRUE  NATION- 
AL FINANCE  that  catchy  words  and  de- 
ceptive argument  will  lose  their  power  to 
mislead.  A most  instructive  lesson  regard- 
ing the  contemptible  attitude  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  large  daily  papers  of  the 
sound-money  persuasion  can  be  gleaned 
from  the  following  occurrence  regarding 
the  accuracy  of  which  I can  and  do  certi- 
fy. On  Monday  evening,  July  13th,  Gold- 
standard  advocates  addressed  a public 
meeting  held  under  the  auspices  of  organ- 
ized labor.  Newspaper  reporters  were  pres- 
ent in  force.  The  next  morning  the  Phil- 
adelphia Record,  a newspaper  which  has 
200,000  circulation  and  in  the  past  professed 
Democracy  of  the  worn-out,  free-trade  spe- 
cies, published  a most  prominent  two-col- 
umn account  of  John  H.  Fow’s  notable 
speech  in  favor  of  gold  delivered  before 
a large  gathering  of  wage-earners,  etc., 
etc.  Then  followed  Mr.  Fow’s  bombastlo 
speech  verbatim,  but  not  a word  regarding 
the  result  of  the  questioning  from  the  au- 
dience which  followed  the  speech.  By  these 
despicable  and  contemptibly  misleading  ac- 
counts do  the  English-American  journals 
seek  to  delude  and  deceive  their  readers. 
THE  ONLY  PAPER  IN  THE  CITY 
WHICH  FURNISHES  ACCURATE  NEWS 
AND  INFORMATION  REGARDING  THE 
PEOPLE’S  CAUSE  IS  THE  ITEM,  and 
upon  the  afternoon  of  July  14th,  It  alone, 
of  all  the  Philadelphia  papers,  published 
the  true  account  of  the  workingmen’* 


32 


meeting  at  which  John  H.  Fow,  Democrat, 
fraternizing  with  Theo.  C.  Knauff.  Repub- 
lican, sought  to  delude  the  large  gathering 
of  our  Kensington  wage-earners.  It  would 
be  veil  for  organized  labor  throughout  our 
nation  to  inaugurate  similar  meetings  for 
the  consideration  of  this  most  vital  ques- 
tion. The  following  is  the  account  from 
the  columns  of  The  Item  of  July  14: 

GOLD  KNOCKED  OUT. 


Friends  of  Free  Silver  Score  Many 
Points. 

The  hall  of  the  Union  Textile  Workers, 
at  505  West  Lehigh  avenue,  was  crowded 
last  night  with  earnest  wage-earners  of 
the  Kensington  mill  district. 

The  meeting  was  the  second  of  a series 
of  three,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
society,  to  consider  the  money  ques- 
tion. 

Two  weeks  ago  the  silver  side  of  the 
subject  had  been  presented  by  Edward 
Stern;  and  last  night  the  two  able  cham- 
pions of  the  gold  standard,  John  H.  Fow 
and  Theo.  C.  Knauff,  pleaded  for  the 
scarce  money  metal. 

Mr.  Fow  took  the  floor  and  for  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  captivated  the  audi- 
ence by  a vigorous  and  most  eloquent 

lea  for  scarce  money,  picturing  the  most 

arrowing  scenes  which  would  occur  did 
the  American  people  remonetize  silver 
without  the  consent  and  co-operation  of 
England.  Mr.  Fow  appeared  to  labor  un- 
der the  idea  that  a fixed  weight  of  gold 
was  stable  in  value  and  therefore  honest 
money.  He  was  listened  to  intently  during 
his  address,  but  upon  its  conclusion  a 
number  of  questions  were  asked  him  which 
somewhat  altered  his  views.  It  gradually 
dawned  upon  Mr.  Fow  that  some  of  the 
workingmen  present  must  have  been  read- 
ing some  other  paper  than  the  Gold-stand- 
ard organs  of  our  city.  The  questions 
poured  in  upon  the  speaker  were  of  a high- 
grade  economio  character,  and  quickly 
brought  Mr.  Fow  to  terms.  He  admitted 
that  the  value  of  gold  altered  with  the 
supply  and  demand  for  that  commodity, 
and  also  granted  that  the  purchasing 
and  debt  discharging  power  of  a fixed 
weight  of  silver  bullion  had  not  changed 
in  silver  currency  countries  for  the  past 
22  years. 

After  making  this  candid  admission  of 
the  honesty  of  the  despised  silver  a laugh 
went  around  the  hall  as  another  question 
brought  out  the  fact  that  upon  Mr.  Fow’s 
own  showing  that,  as  gold  bought  more 
silver,  a fixed  weight  of  gold  would 
buy  more  and  more  of  all  the  products  of 
the  farm,  mine  and  factories  of  silver 
currency  countries.  While  trying  to  make 
out  a case  for  gold  Mr.  Fow  was  sufficiently 
fair  minded  to  admit  that  if  he  resided  in 
England  he  would  buy  in  that  country 
where  he  could  get  the  most  for  his  gold; 
and,  assisted  by  facts  submitted  by  his 
auditors,  gradually  admitted  that  the 
American  farmers  and  workingmen  were 
being  ground  down  into  poverty  through 
this  unfair  competition  with  the  products 
of  the  teeming  populations  of  China,  India 
and  Japan. 

AJIfeed  what  became  of  the  product  of 
American  silver  mines  at  present  Mr. 


Fow  became  somewhat  confused.  He  re- 
called an  Instance  here  recently  when 
$60,000  of  silver  was  taken  to  the  West 
Indies  to  buy  bananas,  etc.,  and  was  dum- 
founded  when  his  attention  was  called  to 
the  fact  that  in  the  financial  columns  of 
The  Ledger  frequent  record  was  made  of 
shipments  of  100,000,  200,000  and  oOO.OOO 
ounces  of  silver  to  England. 

Mr.  Fow  at  this  point  wriggled  some- 
what, and  said  if  che  silver  went  to  Eng- 
land it  must  be  because  we  had  financial 
contracts  with  her  financiers  which  were 
pa>  able  in  silver,  but  in  the  end  he  came 
down  gracefully  like  the  fair-minded  cit- 
izen that  he  is  and  admitted  that  Eng- 
land was  working  a bunco  game  upon 
unsuspecting  Americans,  and  that  the 
silver  which  was  too  <-heap  and  trashy 
for  us  Americans  to  coin  was  shipped  to 
England  almost  before  it  was  cold  and 
that  John  Bull  then  proceeds  to  use  it 
to  such  good  advantage  as  money  in 
all  saver  currency  countries  mat  he 
buys  our  cotton  and  wheat  at  his  own 
price  as  well  as  our  silver. 

Mr.  Fow  granted  that  England  was  work- 
ing us  for  all  she  was  worth.  It  was  a 
revelation  to  our  honored  Legislator  to 
find  such  a vast  majority  or  Republican 
voters  present  at  the  meeting,  and  that 
with  singular  unanimity  tney  iavored  Free 
Silver  and  wanted  to  know  why  American 
silver  is  not  as  good  as  English  gold.  We 
will  venture  the  opinion  that  before  long 
Mr,  Fow  will  be  found  up  at  the  head 
of  the  Free  Silver  procession.  Last  night 
he  stated  that  he  could  be  addressed  care 
of  Mr.  Singerly  at  the  Record  office,  and 
that  he  was  always  willing  to  discuss  the 
silver  question  or  enter  into  joint  debate 
upon  it,  but  it  is  two  to  one  that  another 
experience  like  that  of  last  night  will  find 
Mr.  Fow  changing  his  moorings.  He  is 
too  good  a citizen  to  bo  snowed  under  by 
the  avalanche  of  votes  for  American  sil- 
ver. As  he  left  the  hall  he  received  most 
generous  applause.  The  presiding  officer 
then  introduced  Hon.  Theo.  C.  Knauff. 
representing  the  Sound  Money  League,  of 
Philadelphia,  headquarters  Bourse  Build- 
ing. Mr.  Knauff  has  stumped  the  State 
in  the  interests  of  English  gold,  but  If 
the  results  of  his  labors  throughout  the 
States  are  of  the  same  character  as  the 
effects  of  his  speech  last  night,  he  should 
command  a good  salary  as  a mascot  for 
silver.  He  was  accorded  the  undivided  at- 
tention of  the  large  audience,  as  he  waded 
through  his  speech  of  glittering  generali- 
ties and  catchy  phrases.  He  had  a great 
many  kind  words  for  the  American  work- 
ingman; was  terribly  afraid  that  he  would 
be  paid  in  60c.  dollars.  He  spoke  of  the 
patriotism  of  the  bankers  and  newspaper 
editors  whom  he  represented.  He  tried  to 
leave  the  impression  upon  the  audience 
that  these  worthy  advocates  of  English 
gold  monometallism  actually  laid  awake 
nights,  they  are  so  much  concerned 
about  working  people  becoming  deluded 
by  the  false  arguments  of  the  silver  mine 
owners  and  thus  voting  for  Free  Silver, 
with  its  accompanying  50c.  dollars  and 
other  sad  delusions,  but  the  fun  com- 
menced with  the  first  question  asked  the 
speaker. 

A citizen  present  asked  if  it  were  not  a 
fact  that,  during  the  past  23  years,  our 

country  has  only  been  prosperous  at  those 


33 


tin  es  when  the  Government  was  buying 
large  quantities  of  silver.  The  speaker 
shuffled  and  evaded,  but  was  finally  com- 
pelled to  admit  the  accuracy  of  the  ques- 
tioner’s point.  The  audience  let  them- 
selves loose,  applauding  for  American 
silver.  The  second  point  scored  was  that 
50  years  ago,  when  the  ratio  of  value  be- 
tween gold  and  silver  was  stable  at  1 to 
isy2,  tor  every  ton  of  gold  in  the 
world  there  were  31  tons  of  silver,  and 
that  to-day  tor  every  ton  ol  gold 
there  were  but  19  tons  of  silver.  This 
was  a clincher;  for,  if  fair  play  had  been 
had,  silver  would  have  bought  more  gold, 
and  not  gold  more  and  more  silver.  The 
speaker  hemmed  and  hawed,  said  he  had 
never  heard  it  put  that  way  before,  and 
‘‘Aw! — really  didn’t  know,  ye  know!” — all 
English,  you  see,  but  out  came  a copy  of 
statistics  issued  by  our  Government,  which 
fully  corroborated  the  questioner’s  posi- 
tion and  matters  wore  a sickly  hue  for 
the  scarce  yellow  metal.  Another  hard- 
handed  son  of  toll,  an  old  time  Republi- 
can, asked  the  speaker  if  the  gold  stand- 
ard would  bring  about  a better  era  for 
our  suffering  wage  workers.  Mr.  Knauff 
brightened  up  wonderfnlly  and  in  his 
persuasive  and  insinuating  manner  di- 
lated upon  the  reign  of  prosperity  which 
would  follow  the  adoption  of  the  gold 
standard,  and  the  cessation  of  this  dread- 
fully wicked  Free  Silver  agitation. 

Just  at  this  point  a grizzled  English- 
man broke  in  upon  the  speaker’s  serenity 
by  putting  the  following  poser  to  him: 

“If  the  gold  standard  would  accomplish 
all  these  wonderful  things  for  the  wage- 
earner,  how  is  it  that  in  England,  which 
has  had  a gold  standard  since  1816,  the 
condition  of  the  wage-earner  is  so  de- 
plorable?” and  pointed  out  the  fact  that 
50  per  cent,  of  those  English  workers  who 
reached  the  age  of  60  years  came 
upon  the  public  charge  as  paupers.  The 
audience  waited  for  Mr.  Knauff  to  answer 
the  old  Englishman’s  trite  inquiry,  but 
they  waited  in  vain,  and  it  gradually 
dawned  upon  the  few  deluded  goldites 
present  that  sound,  honest  money  was  not 
all  that  it  was  cracked  up  to  be.  It  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  our  bank  presi- 
dents and  financial  magnates  are  getting 
a trifle  nervous  when  they  find  that  the 
American  workingmen  are  not  swallowing 
their  delusive  promises,  but  are  actually 
thinking  for  themselves  and  asking  com- 
mon sense  questions. 

Mr.  Edward  Stern,  the  well-known  sil- 
ver advocate,  was  present  last  night,  and 
openly  challenged  Mr.  Fow  and  Mr.  Knauff 
to  meet  him  in  a series  of  debates — same 
to  consist  of  alternate  questioning  peri- 
ods. 

The  foregoing  account  of  the  public 
meeting  to  consider  the  money  question 
is  worth  reading  twice  and  thrice. 

For  years  The  Item  has  maintained  a 
straightforward  and  oourageous  stand  for 
silver  and  a true  American  system  of 
finance.  The  result  is  that  the  subtle  all- 
pervading  influences  of  the  gold  clique 
have  sought  in  every  wav  to  disparage  and 
undermine  its  influence  by  sneers  and 
innuendoes.  Our  answer  to  their  covert 
work  should  be  that  all  citizens  who  de- 


sire accurate  and  unbiased  news  reports 
with  logical  and  forceful  editorials  should 
read  The  Item,  and  recommend  it  to 
their  friends  and  acquaintances.  Upwards 
of  190,000  copies  are  sold  daily.  The  more 
the  goldites  sneer  at  it  the  larger  it* 
circulation  grows  until  it  is  now  greater 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  Philadelphia  even- 
ing papers  combined,  it  has,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  a tower  of  strength  to 
the  American  movement,  which  aims  at 
the  liberation  of  the  great  mass  of  wage- 
earners  and  producers  from  their  posi- 
tion of  almost  actual  servitude.  The 
Weekly  Item,  containing,  as  it  does,  a 
review  of  the  news  of  the  entire  world, 
with  special  attention  to  the  American 
topics  of  the  hour,  should  be  subscribed 
for  by  citizens  North,  East,  South  and 
West.  Realizing  the  deplorable  condi- 
tion into  which  our  producers  and  wago 
earners  have  been  plunged  by  the  in- 
sidious robbery  of  the  Gold-standard  sys- 
tem of  finance,  the  proprietors  of  The 
Item  offer  the  weekly  edition  of  their 
paper  at  the  nominal  sum  of  twenty- 
five  cents  per  year.  At  this  low  rate 
subscriptions  cannot  be  received  for  less 
than  the  entire  year,  and  friends  of  silver 
everywhere  should  find  no  difficulty  in 
organizing  clubs  of  five,  ten  and  twenty- 
five  members.  The  able  articles  bearing 
upon  every  phase  of  the  money  question 
will  be  worth  many  times  the  cost  of  sub- 
scription, aside  from  the  reliable  and 
copious  weekly  reports  of  the  progress  of 
the  campaign.  Every  effort  has  been  and 
is  being  made  by  the  Gold-standard  forces 
to  suppress  discussion  and  the  spread  of 
information.  Millions  of  our  citizens  are 
not  aware  of  the  fact  that  THE  WALL 
STREET  PLUTOCRATIC  FORCES  large- 
ly, if  not  entirely,  control  the  Associated 
Press  wires,  and  thus  distort,  if  they  do 
not  actually  suppress,  all  facts  in  favor  of 
silver. 

I can  give  personal  testimony  regarding 
this  startling  conspiracy  against  the 
well-being  oi  our  country  through  the 
control  of  the  avenues  of  news  informa- 
tion. Prior  to  this  correspondence  with 
Secretary  Morton  the  Associated  Press 
had  accorded  practically  unlimited  ac- 
cess to  their  wires  of  his  ironical  and 
sarcastic  letters  in  favor  of  gold.  If  they 
were  impartial  gatherers  of  news  they 
would  have  accorded  equal  consideration 
to  the  silver  side  of  the  controversy. 
Upon  offering  this  correspondence  for 
transmission  over  their  wires  at  their 
Philadelphia  office  I was  informed  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  send  It  out,  and 
In  the  course  of  conversation  with  the 
gentleman  In  charge  it  accidentally  crop- 
ped out  that  ORDERS  HAD  BEEN  RE- 
CEIVED FROM  WASHINGTON  TO  BE 
VERY  CAREFUL  OF  WHAT  THEY 
SENT  OVER  THE  WIRES  BEARING 
UPON  THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  First 
Secretary  Morton  endeavored  to  suppress 
the  correspondence.  Falling  in  that,  each 
one  is  free  to  draw  his  own  inference 
from  the  character  of  orders  sent  out 
from  the  Washington  office  of  Associated 
Press.  Corroborating  this  conspiracy  of 
our  sound,  honest  Gold-standard  leaders 
we  find  the  New  York  Journal  ex- 
posing the  plot  of  the  Union  News  Co., 
which,  as  per  files  of  that  paper,  refuses  to 
handle  silver  literature  of  any  kind  what- 


34 


aver,  either  upon  their  news-stands  or  in 
their  train  service. 

When  silver  literature  is  called  for  the 
effort  is  made  to  palm  off  an  edition  of 
some  Gold-standard  mis-statements  clothed 
in  an  alluring,  deceptive  garb.  Patriotism 
is  not  dead;  it  is  only  slumbering.  Millions 
of  American  patriots  would  rush  to  arms 
to-morrow  were  the  soil  of  our  nation  in- 
vaded by  a foreign  foe.  Let  the  same  men 
arouse  themselves  to  the  fearful  dangers 
of  the  more  insidious  Gold-standard  inva- 
sion. The  true  American  spirit  dwells  in 
all  sections  of  our  vast  National  Domain; 
and  here  in  Philadelphia,  the  birthplace  of 
American  Independence,  organized  labor 
has  needed  no  urging  to  adopt  the  follow- 
ing plan  which  I have  outlined  in  order  to 
force  the  fight  upon  the  scarce-money, 
misery-breeding,  and  English-worshipping 
Gold-standard  advocates: 

PETITION! 


To  the  Freedom-Loving  Citizens  of  Phila- 
delphia: 

Realizing  the  importance  of  the  money 
question  which  is  at  present  engrossing 
the  attention  of  our  Nation,  and  feeling 
assured  that  many  of  our  intelligent  citi- 
zens are  desirous  of  becoming  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  arguments  pro  and  con, 
we,  the  undersigned,  propose  holding  a 
number  of  public  meetings,  upon  the  fol- 
lowing basis,  which  we  think  will  meet  the 
approval  and  merit  the  cordial  support 
and  co-operation  of  all  good  citizens.  In 
each  instance  the  first  and  second  meet- 
ings of  a series  of  three  will  be  addressed 
by  an  advocate  of  the  gold  standard  or  by 
an  advocate  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1.  Each  side  of  the 
question  will  thus  be  accorded  one  entire 
evening,  in  which  to  deliver  an  address, 
and  to  afterwards  answer  all  questions 
relevant  to  the  issue. 

The  third  meeting  of  each  series  to  be 
devoted  to  & Joint  discussion  of  the  subject 
by  the  contending  advocates.  The  Gold- 
standard  speaker  to  have  privilege  of  put- 
ting questions  for  fifteen  minutes  to  the 
bi-metallic  champion,  who  advocates  Free 
Silver.  Then  during  the  next  fifteen  min- 
utes the  questioning  and  answering  will 
be  reversed,  these  equitable  and  instructive 
alternate  questioning  periods  to  be  contin- 
ued throughout  the  entire  evening,  the  dis- 
cussion in  this  instance  being  confined  en- 
tirely to  the  two  speakers.  We  respectfully 
solicit  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  all  those 
citizens,  who  are  desirous  of  rising  above 
eld  party  lines  and  narrow  prejudices; 
ever  seeking  the  economic  truths,  which 
must  underlie  a truly  sound  national  cur- 
rency, which  the  interests  of  farmers,  la- 


borers, business  men,  manufacturers  and 
operatives  alike  require. 

(.Signed) 


GO  THOU  AND  DO  LIKEWISE.  Cut 
out  this  petition — paste  it  upon  a sheet  of 
paper — go  to  your  labor  organization,  jour 
lodge  or  patriotic  order  and  institute  a 
series  of  these  truly  American  Educational 
Meetings.  SEEK  THE  TRUTH  AND  IT 
WILL  SET  YOU  FREE!  Let  each  one  do 
all  in  his  power  to  circulate  silver  lit- 
erature. Whenever  possible,  purchase  those 
newspapers  which  accord  fair  play  to 
American  silver.  Read  The  Item;  subscribe 
for  The  Weekly  Item.  If  you  wish  a 
morning  paper  arouse  yourself  to  the  un- 
questioned fact  that  every  morning  paper 
issued  in  Philadelphia  is  Gold-controlied! 
Go  to  your  newsdealer  and  ask  for  the 
New  York  Journal,  a high-grade  and  re- 
presentative paper,  which  has  and  is  advo- 
cating the  restoration  of  free  amd  un- 
limited mint  privileges  to  silver.  If  your 
newsdealer  has  not  the  Journal,  do  not 
purchase  a gold  sheet,  but  insist  upon  his 
procuring  it  tor  you.  Every  newsdealer 
can  secure  the  Journal  and  have  it  upon 
his  6tand  at  an  early  hour. 

THE  PROSPERITY  AND  THE  WELL- 
BEING OF  OUR  BELOVED  COUNTRY 
IS  IMPERILLED.  WE  MUST  HAVE 
PURER  AND  MORE  PATRIOTIC  AMERI- 
CAN GOVERNMENT.  NATIONAL,  STATE 
AND  MUNICIPAL,  OR  OUR  GLORIOUS 
NATION  — THE  HOPE  — THE  BEACON 
LIGHT  OF  THE  OPPRESSED  AND 
DOWN-TRODDEN  OF  EVERY  CLIME- 
WILL  PERISH  FROM  THE  EARTH.  IT 
IS  NECESSARY  THAT  YOU  AROUSE 
YOURSELF,  AROUSE  OTHERS,  READ, 
STUDY,  REFLECT,  AND  THEN  IN  THE 
WORDS  OF  DANIEL  WEBSTER— “AC- 
TION, NOBLE.  SUBLIME.  GOD-LIKE 
ACTION.”  THERE  IS  ONE  ISM  THAT 
WE  AMERICANS  CAN  ALL  MEET 
UPON— AMERICANISM.  ONE  BATTLE- 
CRY  CAN  RALLY  US  ALL — “GOD  AND 
OUR  NATIVE  LAND!” 

EDWARD  STERN. 


“THE  PRODUCING  COUNTRIES  ARE 
PLUNGED  IN  SO  MUCPI  DISTRESS 
THAT  THEY  ARE  COMPELLED  TO 
SELL  AT  WHATEVER  PRICE  THEY 
C/N  GET— AND  OUR  PEOPLE  ARE  SO 
WELL  OFF  THAT  THEY  ARE  ABLE 
TO  BUY  LARGER  AND  LARGER  QUAN- 
TITIES EVERY  YEAR”— London  Stat- 
ist. 

We  are  a producing  country.  At  present 
and  for  years  past  those  of  our  citi- 
zens who  have  been  permitted  to  work 
have  labored,  not  for  themselves,  but  to 
fill  the  capacious  maw  of  the  English 
and  American  capitalistic  combination. 


SINGLE  TAX—THE  BIBLICAL  PLAN 


The  Principle  Applied  to  Money  — Permanent 
Prosperity  Secured. 


Out  of  Mother  Earth,  the  source  of  all 
raw  materials,  the  labor  and  ingenuity  of 
mankind  has  created  and  does  create  all 
forms  of  wealth.  Whosoever  creates  wealth 
should  be  entitled  to  the  rational  use  and 
enjoyment  thereof.  The  fundamental  prin- 
ciple underlying  THE  HENRY  GEORGE 
SINGLE-TAX  MOVEMENT  is  that  the 
earth  is  the  common  heritage  of  the 
race;  and,  in  order  to  be  truly  free, 
mankind  must  have  access  to  it  upon  a 
basis  of  perfect  equality.  If  man  or  men 
control  the  land  and  have  the  privilege  of 
denying  access  to  it  but  upon  their  own 
terms,  they  have  the  power  under  many 
circumstances  and  conditions  of  exacting 
unjust  tribute  from  their  less  fortunate 
brethren.  This  absolute  privilege  of  con- 
trolling the  land  enables  those  who  possess 
it  to  LORD  IT  over  the  great  mass  of 
mankind.  The  name  “land-lord”  is  thus 
most  appropriately* applied  to  these  indi- 
viduals who  exact  tribute  from  others  for 
the  permission  to  use  land.  Human  lords, 
whether  they  be  land,  transportation  or 
money  lords,  are  cancerous  growths,  ever 
thriving  upon  the  necessities  and  dis- 
abilities of  the  great  mass  of  helpless  hu- 
man workers. 

Man-lords  of  the  race  must  and  will 
be  abolished  and  we  Americans  will  lead 
the  movement  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  workers  of  the  world.  Many  of  our 
Citizens  who  have  read  the  writings  of 
Henry  George  perceive  the  vast  benefits 
which  would  flow  from  the  application  of 
his  device  of  a Single  Tax  levied  solely 
upon  land  values,  but  they  shrink  from 
advocating  its  adoption  on  account  of  its 
radical  character.  Bear  in  mind  that  the 
device  is  the  Single  Tax — the  principal  un- 
derlying being  access  to  land  upon  a 
basis  of  equality.  The  drastic  application 
of  the  Single-Tax  plan  of  Henry  Goorge 
would  result  in  immediate  froo  trade,  c in- 
pletely  overthrowing  the  protective  tariff 
which  the  majority  of  our  voters  regard 
as  essentially  necessary  to  maintain  In 
one  form  or  another.  Tho  Single  Tax 
lovied  solely  upon  land  values  would  also 
largely  decreaso  the  value  of  the  vant 
majority  of  land  holdings  and  thus  make 
enemies  from  the  selfish  standpoint  of  all 
land  owners.  It  Is  an  error  of  Judgment 
to  force  forward  the  consideration  of  land 
reform  at  the  present  time. 

For  years  past  the  money-lords  have 
been  the  dominant  evil.  Important  as  is 
the  land  question  it  is  secondary  in  mag- 
nitude to  the  money  question.  The  vast 
majority  of  land  lords  and  land  owners 
are  to-day  suffering  as  severely  as  all 
others  of  the  community.  They  In  com- 
mon with  all  classes  are  groaning  under 
the  domination  of  the  money-lords.  The 


wealth  of  the  nation  is  rapidly  centering 
in  the  hands  of  Wall  Street  financiers  and 
the  banking  cliques.  These  men  are  now 
endeavoring  to  perpetuate  their  fearful 
power  of  resorting  to  every  dishonorable 
and  knavish  device.  Upon  considering 
the  money  question  from  the  standpoint 
of  an  ultimate  solution.  I have  not  only 
come  to  perceive  that  the  Single  Tax 
principle  underlies  it  in  common  with  the 
transportation  problem,  but  have  also 
been  enabled  to  state  an  efficient  con- 
stitutional device  of  the  simplest  and 
most  equitable  character  which  success- 
fully applies  this  principle  to  the  vexed 
money  problem.  The  Single  Tax  applied 
solely  to  land  values  would  forever  pre- 
vent the  baneful  speculation  and  mani- 
pulation of  land.  Under  its  operation  the 
community  would  itself  profit  by  the 
value  which  its  presence,  labor  and  uses 
give  rise  to.  If  the  prevention  of  spec- 
ulation in  money — the  life  blood  of  our 
nation — can  be  successfully  accomplished, 
equal  and  even  greater  benefits  would 
accrue  to  the  race.  An  era  of  permanent 
prosperity  would  be  inaugurated  and  the 
door  opened  for  all  economic  reforms  un- 
der auspices  much  more  favorable  than 
those  existing  at  present. 

The  solution  of  the  money  question  is 
the  key  leading  to  the  control  and  un- 
ravelling of  all  economic  problems  of 
every  character.  In  a short  time  I hope 
to  have  ready  for  the  printer  a work  out- 
lining this  ultimate  solution  of  the  money 
question  along  the  lines  of  the  principle 
underlying  the  Single-Tax  movement.  The 
device  which  will  successfully  apply  this 
principle  is  of  the  simplest  and  most  ef- 
ficient character.  It  will  not  antagonize 
nor  injure  any  class  of  producers.  It  will 
not  deprive  the  capitalistic  banking  ring  of 
a single  dollar  of  their  vast  holdings  of 
ill-gotten  wealth.  It  will,  however,  at  once 
and  forever  put  it  out  of  their  power  to 
further  injure  the  humblest  citizen.  Fol- 
lowing its  enactment  into  law  all  capital- 
ists will  have  perfect  liberty  to  use  their 
wealth,  but  not  one  of  them  can  abuse  k 
in  such  manner  as  will  in  any  wise  in- 
terfere with  the  unalienable  rights  of  all 
human  beings  to  labor  and  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  their  honest  toil. 

In  addition  to  fully  explaining  the  im- 
portant economic  development  already  out- 
lined, I will  in  my  work  now  in  the  course 
of  preparation  lucidly  expose  the  diaboli- 
cal heartlessness  which  permeates  our 
present  banking  system  and  in  an  irre- 
futable manner  give  a death  blow  to  the 
widely  circulated  statement  of  the  bank- 
ers that  the  remonetization  of  silver  will 
cause  the  purchasing  power  of  our  dollar 
to  shrink  60  per  cent. 


(35) 


36 


Under  our  present  money  system — c.r 
rather,  lack  of  system— the  gold  miner  is 
the  only  producer  who  knows  how  many 
dollars  he  will  receive  for  the  commodity 
which  his  labor  produces.  The  law  secures 
him  one  dollar  for  every  25.8  grains  of  gold 
of  standard  fineness  which  the  mines  yield 
— this  entirely  regardless  of  the  amount  of 
labor  expended  in  mining  the  gold.  Under 
bi-metallism  the  silver  miner  would  be 
added  to  this  favored  list  upon  the  basis 
of  the  Government  issuing  10  him  on 
dollar  for  every  412%  grains  of  standard 
silver  deposited  at  our  mints.  Under  the 
operation  of  the  Single  Tax  princi- 
ple applied  to  the  money  question 
every  producer  of  staple  commodi- 
ties would  always  secure  with  but  slight 
variations  a definite  number  of  dollars 
for  a definite  quantity  of  his  products. 
These  dollars  he  would  secure  not  from 
the  Government,  but  oy  freely  selling  nis 
products  for  cash  money  in  the  open 
market.  Thus  this  simple,  unobjectionable 
and  most  effective  device  would  accom- 
plish all  and  much  more  than  the  Sub- 
Treasury  plan,  without  establishing  a 
single  Sub-Treasury  for  the  reception 
and  storage  of  any  commodity  or  commo- 
dities whatever.  In  only  one  manner  can 
the  condition  of  our  wage  earners  be  im- 
proved under  our  present  wage  system — 
viz. : by  holding  the  present  range  or  prices 
of  the  great  staple  commodities  steady. 
With  prices  3teaciily  maintained,  our  wage- 
earners  will  always  be  assured  steady 
work;  and  as  their  wages  increase,  tneir 
position  will  steadily,  unceasingly  im- 
prove! 

To  those  who  have  read  this  corres- 
pondence it  will  hardly  be  necessary  to 
point  out  that,  with  falling  prices,  whilst 
our  workingmen’s  dollars  would  ever  buy 
more,  the  trouble  is  that  they  secure  less 
of  them  on  account  of  partial  or  entire 
lack  of  work  and  the  cutting  of  wages 
caused  by  the  paralysis  of  all  productive 
enterprise.  If  the  general  range  of  prices 
advances,  a proportional  advance  in  our 
workers’  wages  merely  keeps  his  con- 
dition stationary.  The  welfare  of  hu- 
manity demands  permanently  steady  prices 
of  the  important  staple  products,  and  the 
Single-Tax  principle  applied  to  the  money 
function  will  secure  this  beneficent  con- 
dition. Whilst  apparently  not  altering 
the  money-issuing  department  of  our 
Government,  it  would  in  a manner  largely 
unnoticed  positively  and  permanently  con- 
trol this  most  vital  of  Governmental 
functions  for  the  weal  of  humanity.  There 
is  abundant  Biblical  authority  supporting 
this  principle  as  applied  to  the  land  ques- 
tion. Biblical  authority  will  also  be  quoted 
showing  that  the  same  high  authority 
endorses  the  much  simpler  and  less 
objectionable  application  of  this  old  and 
long  neglected  economic  principle  whose 
practical  application  will  usher  in  a new 
and  happier  era  for  all  mankind — an  era 
of  the  welfare  of  the  workers  whose  in- 
terests have  so  long  been  subordinated  to 
the  plottings  of  soulless,  conscienceless 
speculators  and  unprincipled  money-ma- 
nipulators ! 

Most  truly  yours, 

• EDWARD  STERN. 
Phila.,  Aug.  25,  189S 


COULD  NOT  FIND  GOLD! 

“The  people  of  Lincoln,  were  witnesses 
to-day  to  an  incident,  which  has  been 
foretold  by  political  speakers  for  some 
time.  A farmer,  who  is  now  well-to-do, 
mortgaged  his  farm  a few  years  ago.  He 
was  in  need  of  the  money  and  did  not 
object  to  having  the  mortgage  made  pay- 
able in  gold.  He  saved  his  money  to  meet 
his  indebtedness.  This  morning  he  went 
to  the  mortgagee  and  tendered  him  green- 
backs for  the  debt.  He  was  surprised  whei 
the  man  refused  it  and  said  he  must  have 
gold.  Still  he  thought  that  he  would  have 
no  trouble.  He  went  to  a bank  and  begged 
the  teller  to  give  him  gold  for  his  cur- 
rency. The  teller  declined  because  the 
bank  had  no  gold  to  spare.  A second  and 
even  a third  bank  was  visited  with  like 
result.  Despairing  of  finding  the  gold  in 
the  banks,  he  went  to  a money  lender  and 
offered  him  1 per  cent,  premium  for  the 
gold.  The  money  lender  had  none.  The 
farmer  offered  him  a commission,  besides 
the  1 per  cent,  to  effect  an  exchange.  It 
was  impossible,  the  money  lender  taid. 
He  did  not  believe  there  was  $1,500  in  gold 
in  the  city,  unless  it  was  locked  up  in 
vaults.  To-night  the  farmer  is  still 
searching  for  a man  with  enough  gold  to 
lift  his  mortgage.  He  wonders  whether 
the  money  lender  is  treating  him  fairly, 
but  he  says  he  considers  it  one  of  the 
greatest  object  lessons  he  has  learned  and 
thinks  others  may  profit  by  it,” 

The  above  was  a special  dispatch  from 
Lincoln,  Neb.,  published  on  August  13,  in 
the  Philadelphia  Press  (Goldite),  and  it  is 
truly  an  object  lesson  well  worthy  of  the 
earnest  consideration  of  all  citizens  who 
have  entered  into  gold  contracts.  Gold  is 
already  cornered,  and  yet  McKinley  would 
have  us  make  it  our  sole  money  standard 
and  thus  further  distress  every  debtor  and 
producer.  The  Democratic  platform  de- 
clares in  favor  of  prohibiting  all  contracts 
calling  for  any  special  form  of  money. 
Which  do  you  favor — legislation  for  the 
gold  manipulators,  or  do  you  not  think 
that  honest  legal  tender  money  of  our 
Government  should  validly  discharge  ail 
debts,  without  distinction  or  favoritism? 
MONEY  WHICH  THE  LABORING  MAN 
OR  FARMER  MUST  ACCEPT  FOR  HIS 
LABOR  OR  PRODUCTS  SHOULD  ALSO 
BE  HONEST  ENOUGH  FOR  THEIR 
CREDITORS!  IF  NOT,  WHY  NOT?  Put 
this  proposition  to  some  of  your  Gold- 
standard  friends  and  acquaintances!  Ask 
them  for  a logical  reply  to  it!  Or,  if  a 
Gold-standard  man  yourself,  then  YOU 
find  a reply  to  it! 


37 


INTERESTING  ADMISSIONS 

BY  THE 

PHILADA.  PUBLIC  LEDGER  (A 
Goldite  Organ). 


The  unquestioned  and  ever-growing 
strength  of  the  Free  Silver  movement  is 
forcing  even  the  Eastern  goldite  journals 
to  permit  a little  of  the  truth  regarding 
the  situation  to  reach  their  readers.  J. 
M.  C.,  the  Washington  correspondent  of 
the  Ledger,  has  the  reputation  of  being 
a most  conservative  and  accurate  writer. 
The  following  extracts  will  show  that  free 
silver  will  sweep  the  East,  as  well  as  the 
South  and  West: 

(Special  to  the  Public  Ledger). 

Washington,  July  28. — Those  persons,  in 
the  East  who  are  laboring  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  free  coinage  movement 
in  the  Western  States  is  a “craze,”  an 
emotion,  which  will  wear  itself  out  before 
November,  and  therefore  there  is  no  neces- 
sity to  give  it  serious  attention,  are  woe- 
fully deceived.  This  movement  is  the 
result  largely  of  the  conviction  that  free 
coinage  will  bring  relief  to  all  who  are 
suffering  from  general  business  and  com- 
mercial depression,  and  it  is  not  likely, 
from  present  indications,  to  wear  itself  out 
within  a few  months,  nor  is  it  likely  to  be 
stamped  out  by  ridicule  and  abuse.  It 
must  be  met  with  argument  and  treated 
with  all  the  seriousness  which  so  im- 
portant a matter  deserves.  A letter  re- 
ceived here  from  the  State  of  Washington 
states  that  Eastern  people  either  mis- 
understand the  character  and  force  of  the 
silver  sentiment  in  the  West  or  purposely 
deceive  themselves  about  It.  Such  epi- 
thets as  “lunatics,”  “dishonest  men,” 
“mining  camp  robbers,”  have  no  other  ef- 
fect than  to  cause  irritation  and  anger 
thereby  solidifying  the  ranks  of  the  silver- 
ites,  estranging  the  West  from  the  East, 
and  stimulating  a warm  sympathy  for  the 
South,  which  section  receives  the  shafts 
of  similar  abuse.  The  writer  further  says 
a large  proportion  of  the  people  of  the 
West  are  blood  relatives  of  the  people  of 
the  East,  and  are  naturally  incensed  upon 
reading  in  Eastern  papers  that  they  are 
regarded  as  “lunatics,”  “Anarchists,”  etc. 
because  they  differ  from  their  relatives  on 
an  economic  question. 

A correspondent  of  the  Post,  writing 
from  Seattle,  Washington,  on  the  preva- 
lence of  the  free  coinage  feeling  on  the  Pa- 
cflc  coast,  gives  interesting  facts,  which 
should  be  given  attention  by  those  who 
are  charged  with  the  management  of  the 
campaign  for  the  Republicans.  “Of  all 
business  and  professional  men  in  the 
West,”  says  this  writer,  “ninety-nine  in 
every  hundred  are  the  sons  of  well-to-do 
parents  in  the  States  of  the  Ohio  Valley, 
the  Atlantic  Seaboard,  Pennsylvania,  New 
York  and  New  England,  and  a very 
large  majority  of  them  are  bi-metallists. 


The  situation  in  Washington  State  is  iden- 
tically the  situation  in  every  one  of  the 
Western  States  where  the  free  sil- 
ver sentiment  predominates.  Nor  is 
the  advocacy  of  bi-metallism  in  the 
West  confined  to  people  of  small 
means,  or  those  who  have  suffered  from 
business  reverses.  One  of  the  leading 
silver  champions  of  Oregon  is  Hon.  D.  P. 
Thompson,  a millionaire  five  times  over, 
for  many  years  President  of  the  Oregon 
Railway  and  Navigation  Company,  and 
four  years  ago  the  Republican  nominee 
for  Governor.  He  was  Minister  to  Turkey 
under  President  Harrison.  Mr.  Thompson 
is  in  no  way  a miner,  but  believes  in  free 
coinage,  he  says,  because  he  is  honestly 
convinced  that  the  gold  standard  is  too 
restricted  as  a basis  upon  which  to  con- 
duct the  business  of  the  world.  He  has 
joined  the  Silver  Republican  Party  in  Ore- 
gon and  is  urging  the  election  of  Mr. 
Bryan.” 

What  this  correspondent  says  touching 
on  the  prevalence  of  the  silver  sentiment 
in  Washington  and  Oregon,  both  of  which 
States  are  counted  by  the  Republican 
managers  as  certain  to  give  their  elec- 
toral votes  to  McKinley,  should  command 
the  attention  of  Mark  Hanna’s  Committee. 
“As  to  the  force  of  the  silver  sentiment 
throughout  the  West,”  says  the  writer, 
“the  drift  in  Oregon  and  Washington, 
which  are  figured  in  the  Republican  col- 
umn by  most  Eastern  papers,  may  serve 
as  a pretty  fair  index  of  the  way  things  are 
going  generally  in  the  Dakotas,  Mon- 
tana, Nebraska,  Kansas,  Wyoming,  Cali- 
fornia and  Utah.  Every  one  of  these 
States  is  in  pretty  much  the  same  stage 
of  development,  and  all  alike  are  hard 
pressed  with  debt.  In  every  one  of  them 
the  silver  people  are  getting  together  on 
fusion  electoral  tickets.  In  every  precinct 
wesi  of  the  Mississippi  the  silver  Re- 
publicans are  circulating  pledges  among 
men  of  their  own  party  to  cast  their 
votes  for  the  silver  electors,  and  in  a 
great  many  places  they  are  organizing 
Bryar  Republicans  clubs.  Hundreds  of 
the  staunchest  Republicans  are  leading 
the  movement.  At  the  head  of  the  silver 
Republican  party  in  this  State  (Washing- 
ton) is  Attorney  General  Jones,  now  serv- 
ing his  second  term.  His  antecedents  are 
of  New  England  stock,  but  he  was  born 
in  Wisconsin  and  educated  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor.” 

The  foregoing  represents  the  condition 
which  confronts  the  Republican  managers 
in  the  Western  States.  In  that  entire  sec- 
tion it  is  a question  not  of  gaining  con- 
verts, but  of  retaining  Republicans  within 
the  fold.  This  must  be  done,  if  done  at 
all,  by  appealing  to  the  judgment  of  the 
people  and  convincing  them  by  reason  and 
argument  that  they  are  certain  to  prolong 
the  business  depression  from  which  the 
entire  country  is  now  suffering  by  the 
election  of  candidates  who  represent  free 
coinage  of  silver  and  other  doctrines  that 
are  unsound  and  dangerous.  To  discuss 
the  tariff  question  with  these  people  in 
coi  nection  with  the  present  crisis  would 
be  as  senseless  as  to  discuss  as  an  issue  of 
the  campaign  the  causes  which  led  to  the 
bondage  of  the  Children  of  Israel.  Neither 
can  those  Republicans  who  have  strayed 
from  their  party  on  the  silver  question  be 


38 


recalled  by  ridicule  and  abuse.  It  would 
be  folly  to  Ignore  the  fact  that  the  silver 
feeling  Is  not  only  strong  In  the  West,  but 
that  it  is  rapidly  increasing.  Take  the 
State  of  Wasnlng^on,  which  has  hereto- 
fore been  loyal  and  steadfast  In  its  alleg- 
iance to  the  Republicans.  It  has  never 
had  any  but  a Republican  Legislature  and 
State  officers,  and  thirty-one  of  its  thirty- 
four  counties  have  been  always  reliably 
Republican.  This  year  the  State  is  very 
likely  to  be  carried  by  the  silverites,  and 
Washington  is  as  conservative  as  any  of 
the  Western  States.  Tho  extent  of  the 
silver  sentiment  in  Washington  is  shown  by 
a statement  recently  made  by  Attorney- 
General  Jones,  of  that  State,  to  whom 
allusion  has  been  made  in  this  despatch. 

Speaking  of  the  prevalence  of  the  silver 
feeling  in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  Mr. 
Jones  said:  “In  my  own  county  of  Spokane 
the  situation  is  astonishing.  There  are  sev- 
eral precincts  where  McKinley  will  not  get 
a single  vote.  Every  Republican  has  sign- 
ed a pledge  to  that  effect.  In  Deep  Creek 
(hitherto  one  of  the  strongest  Republican 
recincts  in  the  State)  every  Republican 
ut  one  has  Joined  the  Bryan  forces  over 
his  own  signature.  Saturday  night  the  Re- 
publican Free  Coinage  party  held  a meet- 
ing at  the  Auditorium  in  Spokane  to  or- 
ganize a Republican  Bryan  Club.  About 
1,200  crowded  into  the  opera  house.  The 
meeting  was  addressed  by  Judge 
Turner,  Judge  Blake,  Judge  McBride 
(a  brother  of  Senator  McBride,  of  Oregon), 
Judge  Happy,  Col.  Winston  and  myself. 
It  was  the  most  enthusiastic  political 
meeeting  ever  held  in  the  city,  and  237 
Republicans  signed  the  roll  of  member- 
ship at  the  time.  Three  chairmen  of  the 
county  committees  in  the  State  have  re- 
signed to  Join  the  anti-McKinley  Repub- 
lican forces,  and  Major  Routhe,  of  Stevens 
county,  comes  out  in  a letter  this  morning 
resigning  his  position  to  join  the  Bryan 
wave.”  J.  M.  C. 

“New  York,  Aug.  15. — Inquiry  among  the 
leaders  of  many  of  the  large  labor  organi- 
zations in  this  city  develops  the  fact  that 
most  of  them,  regardless  of  past  politi- 
cal affiliations,  are  for  Bryan,  not  esp- 
ecially because  of  his  standing  on  the 
silver  question,  for  they  seem  to  care  lit- 
tle about  that,  but  because,  to  put  the 
thing  bluntly,  they  think  he  represents 
‘the  masses  against  the  classes.’  It  would 
be  folly  to  overlook  this  fact.  The  advo- 
cates of  sound  money  must  meet  this  op- 
position, and,  if  possible,  overcome  it.” — 
Philadelphia  Public  Ledger  (Goldite). 

The  Ledger  is  for  gold,  as  the  following 
uotation  from  its  editorial  columns  of 
uly  29  will  bear  eloquent  witness: 

“The  banks  of  this  section  of  country 
are  still  pouring  gold  into  the  Treasury 
and  the  great  New  York  houses,  which 
handle  most  of  the  exports  of  that  metal, 
are  taking  measures  to  prevent  the  send- 
ing of  any  more  gold  to  Europe  for  several 
months.  This  patriotic  course,  from  which 
the  bankers  do  not  derive  a cent  of  profit, 
is  the  answer  of  the  ‘gold  bugs’  to  the 
Populists  and  Silver  men  who  accuse 
them  of  hoarding  the  nation’s  wealth 
They  turn  their  solid  wealth  over  to  the 
Government  and  accept  instead  its  prom- 


ises to  pay— promises  which.  If  the  Popu- 
lists can  have  their  way,  will  be  scaled 
down  to  60  cents  on  the  dollar.  It  take* 
nerve  as  well  as  patriotism  to  do  this  kind 
of  financiering  under  present  circum- 
stances.” 

But,  now  that  the  conspiracy  of  silence 
and  deception  is  in  a degree  overthrown, 
would  the  Ledger  kindly  inform  its  readers 
why  “the  banks  of  this  section  of  coun- 
try” did  not  pour  their  gold  into  the 
Treasury  when  it  was  needed  in  1893,  1894, 
1895  and  early  in  1896,  and  thus  obviate 
the  so-called  necessity  of  issuing  bonds 
for  gold  in  time  pf  profound  peace? 

Now  that  the  Ledger  has  permitted  & 
trifle  of  the  truth  to  reach  our  citizens 
through  its  columns,  why  does  it  not  pub- 
lish the  following  letter  of  H.  K.  Thur- 
ber,  a member  of  the  prominent  firm  of 
Thurber,  Why  land  & Co.,  of  New  York, 
and  who,  in  1892,  headed  the  subscription 
list  of  the  Harrison  campaign  fund.  Mr. 
Thurber  has  been  one  of  the  prime  movers 
In,  and  a member  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of,  the  American  Protective 
League: 

“July  23,  1896. 

“My  Dear  Mr.  Cornell — Your  esteemed 
favor  of  the  13th  instant  at  hand.  I am 
in  this  silver  movement  heart  and  soul.  I 
verily  believe  that  Bryan  and  Sewall  will 
win  in  this  fight.  It  is  an  uprising  of  the 
people  against  oppression,  and  an  attempt 
to  place  our  labor  in  the  same  condition 
that  the  labor  of  Europe  is  in;  it  is  a fight 
between  the  owners  of  vested  capital  and 
the  owners  of  property  other  than  evi- 
dences of  indebtedness,  and  the  wage- 
earners;  and  in  the  long  run  the  majority 
must  win.  The  hot  iron  of  gold  has  entered 
into  the  pockets  of  the  many,  and  burned 
very  large  holes  therein,  and  therefore 
they  speak  feelingly,  and  no  specious  ar- 
guments emanating  from  that  side  can 
have  any  effect  on  them,  only  to  make  the 
average  man  more  tenacious  of  his  own 
opinion  that  he  is  right;  and  I think  the 
result  In  November  will  open  the  eyes  of 
the  Republicans  that  want  to  give  manu- 
facturers protection  and  demonetize  silver. 

“Yours  truly, 

“H.  K.  THURBER.” 

The  Ledger  might  add  that  “My  Dear 
Mr.  Cornell,”  to  whom  Mr.  Thurber  wrote, 
is  a son  of  ex-Governor  Cornell,  of  New 
York,  and  that  he,  like  his  father,  has 
always  been  a Republican.  The  Governor’s 
son,  however,  does  not  believe  in  gold 
monometallism.  He  has  announced  him- 
self for  Bryan,  and  has  set  to  work  or- 
ganizing the  Republicans  who  cannot 
swallow  Hanna  and  his  gold  candidate. 
The  goldite  press,  which  includes  the 
Ledger  amongst  its  votaries,  gives  spec- 
ial prominence  to  every  announcement 
of  Democratic  Gold-standard  bankers  or 
corporation  attorneys  who  turn  in  for  their 
natural  ally,  McKinley,  who  favors  their 
gold : but  they  are  most  forgetful  when  it 
comes  to  publishing  an  announcement  of 
the  following  character,  which,  under  dat» 
of  August  6,  was  forwarded  to  W.  li 
Hearst,  of  the  New  York  Journal: 

“I  take  my  stand  with  the  friends  of 
silver,  and  heartily  indorse  the  platform 
adopted  at  the  conference  of  bi-metallists. 


39 


at  Tacoma,  June  13.  As  a necessary  se-  that  the  remonetization  of  silver  to-day 
quence  I shall  support  Bryan  for  Presl-  -will  injure  the  creditor  class,  lightly  over- 
dent. The  money  question  Is  the  para-  looking  the  fact  that  thus  by  their  own  ad- 
mount  Issue  of  the  campaign.  All  others  mission  the  demonetization  of  silver  in 
oan  be  held  in  abeyance.  I believe  that  1878  was  an  Injustice  to  the  debtor  and 
the  growth  of  gold  monometallism  Is  the  producing  classes,  and  that,  therefore,  Its 
chief  cause  of  the  continued  falling  of  remonetization  to-day  Is  but  an  act  of 
prices  that  is  creating  so  much  distress,  long-delayed  justice, 
and  that,  if  the  monometallic  policy  be 
persisted  In,  the  result  will  be  general 
Dankruptoy,  pauperism  and  ruin.  It 
will  be  better  for  us  to  suffer  some 
risks  and  losses  at  present  rather  than  In- 
flict so  much  greater  losses  upon  ourselves 
and  our  children  at  a later  day,  when 
creditors,  debtors  and  the  Interests  of  la- 
bor will  go  down  In  one  common  and  uni-  With  all  their  protestations  of  honesty, 
versal  ruin,  If  we  do  not  proceed  wisely  not  one  of  the  Gold-standard  papers  dares 
beforehand  to  avoid  such  great  disaster.  , » 

Therefore,  I trust  that  the  friends  of  sil-  to  pubhsh  the  following  statements  of 
ver  will  patriotically  unite  l£  one  com-  the  most  conservative  leaders  of  organ- 
mon  cause,  regardless  of  previous  party  ized  labor: 
ties,  and  work  for  the  speedy  remonetiza- 


THE  “SOUND-MONEY”  JOUR- 
NALS CHALLENGED! 


tion  of  silver  In  this  country,  which  lr 


“As  far  as  the  American  Federation  of 


accomplished  will  do  more  than  can  be  Labor  is  concerned  as  a corporate  body, 
done  in  any  other  way  to  effeel  silver  re-  *t  Is  safe  for  me  to  announce  that  it  will 
monetization  throughout  the  world.  I have  p°t  take  Part  *n  the  coming  election.  As 
been  detained  in  the  East  by  Important  far  a®  tb®  matter  ot  free  coinage  is  con- 
business,  and  in  attending  to  the  interests  cerned,  however,  the  American  Fed- 
of  my  constituents.  It  Is  my  Intention  to  %atl.on  ?.f  f'abioQ^  at  ^lu^Tg’°’  v1  ,189?’ 
proceed  to  the  State  of  Washington  as  Cincinnati  in  1894,  and  New  York  in 
soon  as  possible  to  bear  my  share  of  the  unanimous  y declared  in  favor  of  the 

burdens  of  the  coming  campaign,  which,  fre®  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  at 
I think,  is  one  of  the  most  important,  if  the  ratio  of  16  to  1,  without  the  consent 
not  the  most  important,  in  the  history  of  or  aid  of  any  other  nation  Now,  while 
this  country.  I bid  Godspeed  to  the  cause  the  action  of  the  organization  named  on 


of  the  people. 


‘WATSON  C.  SQUIRE.’ 


the  question  of  free  coinage  places  no 
legal  obligation  upon  any  of  Its  members 


T_,n  STATEg  to  ratify  Its  several  declarations  on  the 
MR.  SQUIRE  IS  UNITED  siAi^  subject  at  the  polls,  It  does  imply  a moral 
SENATOR  FROM  THE  STATE  OF  obligation  upon  every  organization  of 


WASHINGTON.  HE  HAS  BEEN  A 
POWER  IN  THE  REPUBLICAN  PART  Y 


labor  belonging  to  the  Federation.  All 
labor  should  be  for  free  silver,  for  It  is 

. _ _ __  labor’s  only  hope.”— Samuel  Gompers, 

FOR  THE  PAST  FIFTEEN  YEARS,  AND  president  American  Federation  of  Labor. 


HIS  FOLLOWING  IN  THE  WEST  AND 


‘We  demand  of  the  present  Congress 


NORTHWEST  IS  ENORMOUS.  WITH  tb0  immediate  return  to  the  money  of  the 
THE  SENATE  EVERY  DAY  MORE  Constitution,  as  established  by  our  fath- 

ervT  tt~»t  v Tr’RTT'TT!  vuiR  WH  AT  ©rs,  by  restoring  the  free  and  unlimited 

SOLIDLY  FOR  FREE  SILVER,  WHA1  coiuage  of  both  gold  and  silver  at  the 

CAN  THE  ELECTION  OF  M’KINLEY  pr6Sent  ratio  of  16  to  1,  the  coins  of  both 
MEAN  BUT  THE  GOLD  STANDARD?  metals  to  be  equally  full  legal  tender  Pur* 

rm-rtr  ,-1  a xt  M'VTMT  ttiv  aiTT  A TARIFF  a11  debts,  public  and  private,  as  before 
HOW  CAN  MKINLEY  »ET  A TAKiFr  ^ fraudui6nt  demonetization  of  silver  in 

BILL  THROUGH  THE  SENATE?  THE  ^573  We  aiso  condemn  the  increase  of 
MAJORITY  OF  ITS  MEMBERS  AL-  the  national  debt  in  time  of  peace  and  the 
READY  OPPOSE  HIM,  AND  THEIR  U36  of  Intorest-bearing  bonds  at  any  time.  ’ 
U w. , The  foregoing  is  signed  by  Marion  Butler, 

NUMBER  STEADILY  GROWS.  president  of  the  National  Farmers’  Alli- 

— anoe  and  Industrial  Union;  J.  R.  Sover- 

♦niinnrtn  tr  notation  la  from  the  edi-  ©i&n,  General  Master  Workman  of  the 

♦ the  PhiladelDhia  Inquirei  Knights  of  Labor;  Samuel  Gompers,  presi- 

t$rlAaU  fr  1 aSd  has  r ef erence  to  the  dent  of  the  American  Federation  of  La- 
of  monkey4 standards  ao^mpHshed  bor:  John  McBride,  president  of  the  United 

LZTJh  ?ha  demon^UzSFon  of  Mine  Workers  of  America;  P.  M.  Arthur, 
in  1873  through  the  demonetization  01  Grand  GMef  Qf  thQ  Brotllerhood  of  Loco- 

®ilver:  motive  Engineers;  Frank  P.  Sargent, 

“The  United  States  was  then  a debtor  @rand  Master  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Lo- 
nation  as  it  is  now,  which  is  only  to  say  comotive  Firemen;  Henry  H.  Trenor,  gen- 
that  It  could  not  dictat.  Ita  own  term,.  "LM™  o^Am^ 

The  creditor  nations  did  that  and  always  and  q a Robinson,  president  of  the 

••  Farmers’  Mutual  Benefit  Association;  and 

This  editorial  gem  from  the  Inquirer  it  was  presented  to  the  Fifty-third  Con- 
merely  states  that  debtors  have  no  rights  .£r®3a’  third  session. 

which  creditors  should  in  equity  respect,  The  following  significant  resolution  was 
and  is  a fair  sample  of  the  attitude  of  passed  by  the  National  Grange,  at  its  ses- 

the  gold  Journals  generally.  They  claim  slon  in  Springfield,  O.,  in  November,  1891. 


40 


and  may  go  a long  way  toward  explaining 
why  numbers  of  the  Western  farmers  will 
vote  against  English  Gold  Dictation  in  No- 
vember next,  now  that  they  have  at  last 
obtained  a chance  to  cast  a ballot  for  a 
platform  and  a principle  that  thoroughly 
express  their  sentiments: 

“Whereas,  The  National  Grange  does  not 
believe  that  we  now  have  sufficient  cur- 
rency in  the  nation  for  the  legitimate  pur- 
poses of  trade,  and  to  meet  necessary  ob- 
ligations; therefore  be  it 

“Resolved,  That  this  National  Grange 
declares  and  expresses  its  opinion  in  favor 
of  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  both  sil- 
ver and  gold,  just  as  it  existed  from  al- 
most the  foundation  of  the  Government 
up  to  1873,  when  silver  was  demonetized.” 
— National  Grange,  at  its  session  in 
Springfield,  O.,  November.  1891. 


The  goldites  are  in  the  habit  of  referring 
to  the  silver  craze  as  though  it  is  a mania 
of  very  recent  growth.  The  foregoing  quo- 
tations would  enlighten  their  readers 
somewhat  and  for  that  very  reason  they 
will  never  be  published.  YOU  CAN,  HOW- 
EVER, ALWAYS  SECURE  THE  TRUE 
AND  UNBIASED  FACTS  BY  READING 
THE  ITEM  AND  AID  OTHERS  BY  AD- 
VISING THEM  TO  DO  LIKEWISE.  UN- 
TIL A SILVER  MORNING  NEWSPAPER 
IS  ESTABLISHED  IN  OUR  CITY,  SEND 
THIRTY  CENTS  MONTHLY  TO  THE 
JOURNAL,  NEW  YORK,  AND  BY  THE 
FIRST  MAIL  EACH  MORNING  YOU 
WILL  RECEIVE  YOUR  MORNING  PA- 
FER.  IN  YEARS  TO  COME  OUR  CITI- 
ZENS WILL  APPRECIATE  MORE  AND 
MORE  THE  NOBLE  STANDS  OF  PA- 
PERS LIKE  THE  ITEM,  OF  PHIL- 
ADELPHIA; THE  ENQUIRER,  OF 
CINCINNATI,  O. ; THE  PITTSBURG 
POST,  OF  PITTSBURG,  PA.;  THE  PEN- 
NY PRESS,  OF  MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.; 
THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  CHRONICLE,  OF 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.;  THE  CLEVE- 
LAND PLAIN-DEALER,  OF  CLEVE- 
LAND, O. ; THE  DETROIT  TRIBUNE,  OF 
DETROIT,  MICH.;  THE  ATLANTA  CON- 
STITUTION, OF  ATLANTA,  GA.,  AND 
LAST,  BUT  NOT  LEAST,  THE  RECENT 
ADDITION  TO  THEIR  RANKS,  THE 
JOURNAL,  OF  NEW  YORK,  WHICH, 
SINCE  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION, 
HAS  COME  OUT  SQUARELY  FOR  SIL- 
VER. THESE  PAPERS,  SPURNING  THE 
GOLDEN  BRIBES  OF  THE  GOLD  CON- 
SPIRATORS, HAVE  STOOD  AND  ARE 
STANDING  STEADFASTLY  FOR  THE 


TRUE  INTEREST  OF  ALL  FARMERS 
AND  PLANTERS,  BUSINESS  MEN  AND 
MANUFACTURERS,  MECHANICS  AND 
LABORING  MEN  OF  OUR  NATION 


“Advices  from  Australia,  by  the  steamer 
Warrimoo,  show  an  alarming  increase  in 
casualties,  crimes  and  acute  distress.  The 
police  are  unable  to  cope  with  desperate 
housebreakers  who  swarm  in  the  large 
cities.  A few  that  had  been  arrested 
give  as  an  excuse  that  famine  drove 
them  to  deeds  of  violence.  Several  of  the 
policemen  attacked  by  burglars  at  Sidney 
are  dying.  Thousands  are  sleeping  in  the 
open  air,  and  several  have  starved  to 
death.  At  Bourke,  Afghans  and  Euro- 
peans quarreled  over  a division  of  labor, 
and  a bloody  row  occurred.  Tne  most  tragio 
suicides — out  of  98  in  one  week — directly 
the  result  of  hard  times,  are  F.  W.  Wil- 
son, the  biscuit  manufacturer,  Brisbane, 
shot  himself;  William  O’Connor,  lodger  in 
the  European  Hotel,  Melbourne,  jumped 
from  the  fourth  story  and  dashed  his 
brains  out  on  the  pavement;  Kate  Brooks, 
a pretty  English  girl,  starving,  got  drunk 
and  killed  herself  with  poison;  Joseph 
Bancroft,  a miner,  out  of  work,  said  good- 
bye to  his  family,  and  exploded  a cartridge 
in  his  mouth.”— San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

Australia  has  a single  gold  standard  and 
should  therefore  enjoy  its  full  share  of 
that  blissful  prosperity  which  Mr.  Morton 
and  other  gold  advocates  claim  is  the  lot 
of  all  Gold-standard  countries. 

“ ‘The  labor-leader  in  Germany,’  Eve 
McDonald  Valesh  writes  from  Berlin, 
‘must,  indeed,  be  a courageous  and  self- 
sacrificing  man.  Government  censors  at- 
tend all  meetings.  People  are  imprisoned 
for  daring  to  assert  the  rights  of  labor 
or  to  criticise  the  existing  government. 
Labor  is  repressed  and  terrorized  on  every 
side.  Industrial  conditions  are  so  bad  that 
strikes  are  continually  occurring.  The 
hours  of  labor  are  so  long  and  wages  so 
low  that  the  American  can  hardly  under- 
stand how  the  workers  manage  to  exist 
and  find  courage  to  fight  for  better  con- 
ditions.’ ” — Philadelphia  Ledger  (Goldite.) 
July  10,  1896. 

The  Ledger,  evidently,  has  overlooked 
the  fact  that  Germany  is  one  of  the  pros- 
perous Gold-standard  nations  which  our 
sound-money  advocates  so  constantly  prate 
about! 

CALL  THE  ATTENTION  OF  OUR  GER- 
MAN CITIZENS  TO  THE  ABOVE!  DI- 
RECT THEIR  ATTENTION  TO  THE 
FACT  THAT  GERMANY  WAS  UPON  A 
SILVER  BASIS  WHEN  SHE  CONQUER- 
ED FRANCE  IN  1870!  SEND  ME  LIST 
OF  THOSE  CITIZENS  WHO  READ  GER- 
MAN PAPERS,  PERIODICALS,  ETC., 
AND  I WILL  SEE  THAT  THEY  RE- 
CEIVE SAMPLE  COPIES  OF  GERMAN 


41 


SILVER  PAPERS,  FREE  OF  CHARGE. 
I CAN  ALSO  SUPPLY  THE  FOLLOW- 
ING INVALUABLE  WORKS  IN  GER- 
MAN: 


“Gold”  (Robert  Schilling) 10c 

“Seven  Financial  Conspiracies”  (Em- 
ery)   10c 

“Ten  Men  of  Money  Island”  (Norton) ..  .10c 
“The  Battle  of  the  Standard”  (Sena- 
tor Henry  M.  Teller) 25c 


“EVERY  MAN  WHO  IS  OPPOSED  TO 
THE  USE  OF  SILVER  COIN  AS  PART 
OF  THE  LEGAL  CURRENCY  OF  THE 
COUNTRY  I DISAGREE  WITH!  EVERY 
MAN  WHO  IS  OPPOSED  TO  THE  AC- 
TUAL LEGAL  USE  OF  BOTH  METALS 
I DISAGREE  WITH!  I WOULD  ENDOW 
THE  TWO  DOLLARS  WITH  EQUALITY 
AND  MAKE  THE  COINAGE  FREE.”— 
James  A.  Garfield. 

“England  being  the  chief  creditor  na- 
tion of  the  world,  it  is  to  her  interest  to 
KEEP  THE  VOLUME  OF  MONEY  AS 
SMALL  AS  POSSIBLE  IN  COUNTRIES 
IN  WHICH  DEBTS  ARE  DUE— IN  OR- 
DER TO  GET  MORE  OF  THEIR  PRO- 
.uuCTS  in  payment  ot  interest  uue  to  her 
citizens!” — London  Economist  (Goldite). 

Every  year  of  the  gold  standard  wit- 
nesses a shrinkage  in  the  volume  of  our 
money  1 ! ! 

“SOME  WHO  ARE  READY  TO  USE 
THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT 
TO  LIMIT  THE  SUPPLY  OF  MONEY,  IN 
ORDER  TO  PREVENT  INJUSTICE  TO 
THE  CREDITOR,  ARE  SLOW  TO  ADMIT 
THE  RIGHT  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  TO 
INCREASE  THE  CURRENCY  WHEN 
NECESSARY  TO  PREVENT  INJUSTICE 
TO  THE  DEBTOR.  I DENOUNCE  THE 
CRUEL  INTERPRETATION  OF  GOV- 
ERNMENTAL POWER  WHICH  WOULD 
GRANT  THE  AUTHORITY  TO  STARVE, 
BUT  WOULD  WITHHOLD  THE  AU- 
THORITY TO  FEED  OUR  PEOPLE— 
WHICH  WOULD  PERMIT  A CONTRAC- 
TION OF  OUR  CURRENCY,  EVEN  TO 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  ALL  PROS- 
PERITY, BUT  WOULD  PROHIBIT  THE 
EXPANSION  OF  OUR  CURRENCY  TO 
KEEP  PACE  WITH  THE  GROWING 
NEEDS  OF  A GROWING  NATION.”— 
Speech  in  Congress  of  the  Hon.  William  J. 
Bryan. 

“The  more  limited  the  supply  of  any  ar- 
ticle in  proportion  to  demand,  the  easier 
it  is  to  ‘corner  the  market’ ; and,  the  more 
imperative  the  need  of  such  article,  the 
more  disastrous  the  results  of  ‘cornering.’ 
If  our  Government  shall  make  gold  coin 


the  only  legal  tender,  we  shall  be  in  daily 
peril  of  financial  panic  and  disaster.” — 
Rev.  A.  J.  Kynett  (an  able  and  popular 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Church- 
Extension  Society). 


WILL  NOT  EXCHANGE! 


“To  the  Editor  of  the  Press: 

‘Sir: — Under  the  present  money  system 
can  I secure  on  demand  at  the  United 
States  Treasury  gold  for  twenty  silver 
dollars  (standard)  ? 

“G.  W.  REIFSNYDER. 

“Catawissa,  Pa.,  August  8,  1896.” 

“The  Treasury  will  not  give  gold  for 
silver.  The  Government  is  bound  to  main- 
tain the  parity  of  our  gold  and  silvej 
coin,  since  the  volume  of  silver  dollars  is 
limited  in  amount,  but  this  is  done  by 
accepting  the  silver  dollars  for  Govern- 
ment dues.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the 
Government  to  do  anything  else. — Editor 
Philadelphia  Press.” 

The  above  question  and  answer  is  from 
the  Philadelphia  Press  of  August  11 — a 
paper  which  becomes  hysterical  when 
American  silver  is  mentioned.  It  has, 
however,  in  this  instance  rendered  a ser- 
vice to  the  Nation  by  admitting  a fact 
which  the  great  majority  of  gold  mono- 
metallists usually  evade,  viz.:  That  our 
Government  has  not  and  will  not  redeem 
silver  dollars  with  gold.  Will  not  the 
Editor  of  the  Press  go  a step  forward, 
and  also  admit  that  it  is  not  necessary 
for  the  Treasury  to  redeem  any  form  of 
its  money  in  gold  if  it  will  but  accept 
all  Governmental  dollars  in  payment  of 
public  dues — this  without  discrimination? 
Does  not  the  fact  that  two  issues  of  paper 
notes  made  during  the  war  upon  this 
basis  maintained  parity  with  gold  prove 
my  position  to  be  correct,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, clearly  shows  the  tricky  manipula- 
tions of  the  gold  barons?  If  our  Govern- 
ment could  maintain  two  issues  of  paper 
money  at  a parity  with  specie  during  the 
war  (this  without  redeeming  them  in  gold), 
could  it  not  surely  accomplish  the  same 
results,  and  much  more,  at  present  dur- 
ing an  era  of  profound  peace?  Which 
class  of  our  business  men,  manufacturers, 
and  producers  would  be  injured  by  slightly 
altering  the  reply  of  the  Press  in  the 
following  manner: 

“The  Treasury  will  not  give  gold  for 
silver  or  paper  dollars.  The  Government 
is  bound  to  maintain  the  parity  of  our 
gold,  silver,  and  paper  coins,  since  flie 
volume  of  silver  and  paper  dollars  is  lim- 
ited in  amount:  but  this  can  be  done  by 
accepting  silver  and  paper  dollars  for  Gov- 
ernment dues.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
the  Government  to  swap  gold  for  silver 
or  paper  notes  in  order  to  advance  sel- 
fish grabs  of  bond  syndicates!” 

T ? ? ? ? 

From  1847  to  1861,  did  not  gold,  silver, 
and  Treasury  notes  of  our  Nation  circu- 


42 


late  upon  a basis  of  perfect  equality, 
without  redemption  of  any  character,  save 
acceptance  without  discrimination,  in  pay- 
ment of  Governmental  dues  or  taxes?  Is 
it  not  practicable  to  return  to  this  equit- 
able non-bond-issuing  system  of  National 
finance  to-day?  If  not,  why  not? 

“I  will  describe  perfect  money,  to- wit: 
Any  convenient  substance  of  about  the 
‘intrinsic’  value  of  silk-ribbed  paper,  so 
prepared  as  to  defy  the  counterfeiter,  is- 
sued by  authority  of  the  law  of  the  United 
States,  and  promising  no  redemption  what- 
ever, except  acceptance  for  ail  dues  to 
the  United  States,  and  also  made  receiv- 
able and  payable  for  all  dues  and  debts, 
public  and  private,  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States.” — William  P.  St. 
John,  President  Mercantile  National  Bank 
of  New  York. 


SILVER  IN  HEXICOI 


The  following  is  taken  from  the  columns 
of  the  Atlanta  (Ga_)  Constitution— a journal 
of  unimpeachable  fairness  and  honesty; 
and  the  interview  should  be  sufficient  to 
settle,  once  for  all,  this  silly  twaddle  about 
the  prosperity  of  the  Silver-standard  na- 
tion on  our  Southwestern  border: 

‘Hf  free  silver,  as  judged  by  its  results 
in  Mexico,  is  not  a good  thing,  I failed 
to  discover  any  evidence  of  it,”  said  Mr. 
Joseph  M.  Brown,  traffic  manager  of  the 
Western  & Atlantic  Railroad.  “I  am 
jns+  back  from  a three  weeks’  trip  to 
that  country.  I traveled  for  thousands 
of  miles  all  over  the  country,  and  In  all 
that  time  I failed  to  find  a single  man, 
native  or  from  the  States,  who  was  not 
an  enthusiastic  free  silver  man.” 

Mi.  Brown  has  just  returned  from  Mexi- 
co. He  traveled  all  over  the  country, 
talked  with  all  classes  of  citizens  of  the 
country,  and  made  a study  of  the  business 
conditions. 

“I  went  to  Mexico,”  said  Mr.  Brown, 
”ur  decided  as  to  the  financial  question. 
I have  returned  convinced  of  one  thing, 
and  that  is  that  if  free  silver  for  the 
United  States  will  do  for  this  country 
what  it  has  done  for  Mexico,  then  free 
silver  is  what  we  need.  I found  that 
country  enjoying  the  greatest  commer- 
cia1  prosperity.  Everybody  is  satisfied 
with  the  financial  status,  business  is  pros- 
perous, the  mills  are  all  running  on  full 
time,  and  the  mark  of  good  times  is  mani- 
fest on  all  sides.  It  seems  to  me  that 
what  is  good  for  them  will  be  good  for  us. 
There  is  an  old  saying  that  what  is  sauce 
for  the  goose  is  sauce  for  the  gander; 
and  if  free  silver  in  Mexieo  means  univer- 
sal business  prosperity,  I can’t  see  why 
it  would  not  mean  the  same  thing  for 
the  United  States. 

"I  was  forcibly  impressed  with  some 
facts  connected  with  the  situation  in  finan- 
cial affairs  of  Mexieo.  Little  things  show 
which  way  the  wind  is  blowing,  and  I 
want  to  show  by  practical  illustration  how 
matters  stand.  These  practical  facts  count 
tor  more  than  stories.  Now,  just  before 
taring  Atlanta  I bought  a pair  of  shoes 


for  $6  in  American  money.  When  we  got 
to  Mexico,  my  brother,  who  accompanied 
me  on  the  trip,  wanted  a pair  of  shoes. 
We  went  into  a store,  and  we  got  a pair 
of  shoes  just  as  good  in  every  way  as 
the  ones  I bought  in  Atlanta.  He  paid 
for  them  $6  in  Mexican  money.  They  say 
that  the  Mexican  silver  dollar  is  w'orth 
only  a little  over  50  cents.  That  is  the 
way  financial  writers  put  it.  Yet  the  Mexi- 
can dollar  in  Mexico  buys  just  the  same 
as  the  American  dollar  buys  in  the 
United  States.  Theoretically  the  latter  may 
be  worth  two  of  the  former.  Yet  what  is 
the  difference  when  both  have  the  same 
purchasing  power?  Money  is  a medium  of 
exchange,  and  if  a Mexican  silver  dollar 
will  buy  a dollar’s  worth  what  difference 
does  it  make  about  the  theory  of  the 
thing? 

“Here  is  another  instance:  You  go  into 
a hotel  in  Mexieo  and  get  a dinner  in 
eight  courses.  In  Atlanta  you  pay  $1  at 
the  Kimball  or  the  Aragon  for  such  a 
dinner.  In  Mexico  you  pay  a Mexican 
dollar  for  the  same  dinner.  You  get  just 
as  good  a dinner  in  Mexico  as  you  do  in 
Atlanta  for  your  dollar.  Yet  we  are  told 
that  the  American  dollar  is  worth  twice 
as  much  as  the  Mexican  dollar  because 
it  has  gold  behind  it.  These  are  small 
matters,  but  they  are  practical  facts  and 
it  is  these  small  practical  facts  that  are 
of  interest  to  tne  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple. 

“I  have  seen  interviews  in  the  papers,” 
continued  Mr.  Brown,  “stating  that  under 
free  silver  Mexico  is  in  a bad  fix;  that 
business  is  shaky  and  industries  languish- 
ing. I want  to  say  that  if  such  is  the  ease 
I failed  to  discover  any  evidence  of  such 
a state  of  affairs  and  I went  all  over  the 
country.  This  talk  about  Mexico  not  thriv- 
ing under  a free  silver  regime  is,  to  use 
a slang  pharse,  ‘all  rot’!  In  the  Valley  of 
Mexico  alone  I found  33  cotton  mills,  all 
running  on  full  time  and  making  money. 
If  there  was  any  business  depression  I 
failed  to  see  any  signs  of  it.  As  I came 
back  on  the  Mexican  National  Railroad,  I 
passed  an  immei  se  establishment,  which 
I was  told  was  a woolen  mill.  It  employed 
4,800  hands  and  was  runuing  day  and 
night  That  would  seem  to  indicate  pros- 
perity. 

“The  best  evidence  that  a financial  sys- 
tem is  a success  is  the  way  in  which  the 
people  like  it.  In  all  my  travels  in  Mexico 
I failed  to  find  a man  who  was  not  an 
enthusiastic  advocate  of  free  coinage.  They 
all  say  with  one  accord  that  if  the  United 
States  and  the  rest  of  the  world  want  the 
gold  standard  they  can  have  it.  As  for 
them,  they  have  tried  free  silver,  and  they 
want  nothing  else.  It  has  brought  them 
prosperity  and  so  long  as  that  is  the  case 
the  world  may  outlaw  their  silver  as  much 
as  it  pleases.  It  has  no  effect  on  them. 
Their  silver  dollar  buys  a dollar’s  worth 
just  the  same  as  an  American  dollar  buys 
a dollar’s  worth  in  Atlanta.  So  long  as 
this  is  a practical  fact,  what  difference  does 
it  make  how  often  theorists  prove  the 
contrary  on  paper?  Faets  speak  for  them- 
selves and  the  Mexicans  prefer  their  facts 
to  other  people’s  theories. 

“New,”  continued  Mr.  Brown,  “I  can’t 
see  how  it  can  hurt  us  to  get  14  cents’ 
worth  of  silver  for  a pound  of  cotton  In- 


43 


stead  of  7 sents  worth  of  gold  if  the  14 
cents  in  silver  has  the  same  purchasing 
power  as  the  7 cents  in  gold.  And  then,  in 
addition  to  this,  if  things  work  like  they 
do  in  Mexico,  we  have  universal  prosperity, 
a satisfied  people,  mills  running  on  full 
time,  or  day  and  night  and  money  easy.  I 
cannot  see  why  what  is  good  for  Mexico 
would  not  be  good  for  us  and  I want  to 
say  again  that  all  this  talk  about  free  sil- 
ver hurting  business  in  Mexico  is  absurd.” 


BOILER  = PLATE  ARGUMENTS! 


The  following  communication  is  reprint- 
ed from  the  columns  of  The  Philadelphia 
Item,  issue  of  August  12,  1896,  and  is  as 
logical  and  forceful  a letter  on  the  money- 
question  as  one  can  anywhere  find.  It 
goes,  moreover,  to  show  that  the  people 
are  beginnig  to  think  for  themselves — 
that  they  are  no  longer  willing  to  be 
blindly  led  in  their  political  doings  by 
the  sayings  of  men  who  have  a personal 
interest  in  the  effect  of  their  sayings  far 
removed  from  the  public  good: 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Item: 

In  the  Times  for  July  27th  was  inserted 
a letter  from  me,  asking  for  statistics 
necessary  to  complete  the  defense  of  Mr. 
MeGlure’s  assertion  made  in  a previous 
issue  of  his  paper,  that  the  regular  law 
of  supply  and  demand  is  answerable  for 
the  present  depreciated  price  of  silver. 
Besides  publishing  my  letter,  the  Times 
gave  me,  in  a misleading  way  a table  of 
statistics;  but  these  same  statistics  are 
against  Mr.  McClure,  which  I made  so 
clear  to  him  in  a subsequent  letter  that  he 
has  carefully  kept  from  publishing  the  said 
subsequent  letter  in  his  columns  of  ‘‘Free 
Talks  on  Silver.” 

I am  sure  Mr.  McClure  got  into  the  hole 
by  publishing  at  second  hand  some  “boiler 
plate”  matter,  thinking  the  readers  of  the 
Times  gullible  enough  for  any  dose,  as  I 
see  the  very  dose  administered  to  the 
Record  readers  to-day  in  an  editorial  of 
that  paper.  The  New  York  Times,  I be- 
lieve, also  made  much  of  it. 

The  assertion  by  the  three  papers  above 
mentioned  is  this:  “In  1873  the  total  pro- 
duct of  silver  in  the  world  was  61,100,000 
ounces,  and  the  silver  dollar  was  then 
worth  $1.03%  in  gold.  Last  year  the  total 
product  of  silver  was  165.000,000  ounces 
and  the  silver  dollar  is  now  worth  about 
53  cents.”  The  Times  pretended  that  this 
was  sufficient  evidence  that  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand  alone  was  the  cause 
of  the  depreciated  price  of  silver.  I called 
Mr.  McClure’s  attention  to  the  fact  that 
it  was  not  sufficient.  I asked  him  to  state 
the  total  amount  of  gold  and  the  total 
amount  of  silver  in  the  world  at  the  two 
periods  (1873  and  last  year),  as  the  ratio 
can  be  determined  alone  from  the  total 
amounts  of  each  metal  in  the  world,  and 
not  from  their  productions  for  any  stated 
term  or  period.  Here  are  McClure’s  own 
figures,  which  he  gave  me: 

“Accepting  Mulhall’s  estimate,  the 


world’s  stock  of  gold  in  1873  was  235,200,000 
fine  ounces,  and  of  silver  4,410,000,000  fine 
ounces.  The  additions,  in  periods  of  five 
years,  were  as  follows,  also  given  in  fine 
ounces,  with  the  proportion  of  silver  to 
gold: 

Gold.  S Iver.  Ratio. 


1874-78 
1879  83 
1884-88 
1889-93 


25,405,457 

321,4  9, COO 

12.6 

24.975,663 

403,588  000 

16.1 

25,738,984 

471,386,000 

18.3 

32,720,301 

698,195,700 

21.3 

Total  ..  ..108,840.405  1,894,608,700 
Please  notice  how  Mr.  McClure  here 
evades  my  direct  question  for  the  total 
amounts  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  world 
in  1873  and  last  year.  He  thought  to  throw 
sand  in  my  eyes  by  giving  me  the  pro- 
ducts of  single  periods.  I asked  him  why 
he  did  not  make  his  additions  to  Mul- 

hall’s estimate  for  1873  to  get  the  present 
ratio.  He  remains  silent.  He  certainly 
knows  that,  had  he  done  so,  he  would  have 
found  the  result  far  from  proving  his 
theory.  Allow  me  to  give  in  The  Item 
Mr.  McClure’s  own  statistics  arranged  to 
show  the  natural  ratio  of  gold  and  silver 
for  1873  and  last  year: 

Gold.  Silver.  Ratio. 

Amount  in  (oz.)  (oz). 

word  1873.. 235, 200, 000  4,410,000,000  L18.7 

Production 

since  108,840,405  1,894,608,700 


Amount  in 
world  last 

year  344,040,405  6,304,608,700  1.18.S 


A result  entirely  fatal  to  Mr.  McClure’s 
claim  and  to  the  claims  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Record  and  the  New  York  Times!  It 
proves  that  there  is  less  silver  now  in  pro- 
portion to  gold  than  there  was  in  1873. 
Yet  in  1873  when  the  ratio  of  silver  to 
gold  was  18.7  to  1,  a silver  dollar  was 
worth  $1.03%  in  gold;  and  now  when  the 
ratio  of  silver  has  fallen  to  18.3  to  1 a 
silver  dollar  is  worth  53  cents. 

Can  any  reasonable  man  refuse  to  be- 
lieve that  it  is  in  the  difference  in  the 
treatment  of  silver  as  a free  coinage  metal 
in  1873,  and  its  subsequent  demonetization 
that  has  caused  the  depreciation  in  its 
value? 

As  this  is  to  be  a campaign  of  education, 
I should  be  pleased  to  see  this  letter  in 
The  Item,  believing  that  it  will  make  one 
vital  point,  at  least,  clear  to  the  minds  of 
intelligent  readers. 

JOHN  J.  BRANIN. 


NUMEROUS  GOLD  - STANDARD  PA- 
PERS ARE  PRETENDING  TO  ANSWER 
ALL  RELEVANT  COMMUNICATIONS 
REGARDING  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 
THE  ITEM,  OF  PHILADELPHIA,  HAS 
PERFORMED  A PUBLIC  SERVICE  BY 
PUBLISHING  THE  ABOVE  LETTER  OF 
MR.  BRANIN  AND  THUS  EXPOSING 
THE  PACT  THAT  THE  GOLD  STAND- 
ARD PAPERS  SUPPRESS  ALL  THOSE 
LETTERS  CONTAINING  ARGUMENTS 
AND  QUESTIONS  WHICH  THEY  ARE 
UNABLE  TO  ANSWER  IN  A SOUND 


44 


AND  HONEST  MANNER.  RATHER 
TRICKY!— BUT  IT  IS  SIMPLY  A SAM- 
PLE OF  THEIR  ABOMINABLE  DECEP- 
TIONS! 


A BLUFF  CALLED! 


The  following  is  the  reproduction  of  an 
editorial  from  the  pages  of  The  Philadel- 
phia Item,  recent  issue,  and  shows  that 
Labor  is  not  to  be  bluffed  and  bulldozed 
by  the  Gold-standard  magnates  in  the  hope 
to  influence  its  vote  at  the  coming  con- 
test: 

As  McClure’s  Times  threatens  to  pay 
its  employes  in  Mexican  silver  dollars, 
which  are  NOT  A LEGAL  TENDER  in 
America,  we  beg  to  call  their  attention 
to  the  following  dispatch: 

“A  Bryan  Club  has  been  formed  among 
the  union  printers  of  Chicago,  and  at  a 
meeting  held  on  Wednesday  in  the  rooms 
of  the  County  Central  Committee  the  fol- 
lowing was  adopted: 

“ ‘Whereas,  Certain  well-known  firms  and 
corporations  are  resorting  to  questionable, 
if  not  wholly  ILLEGAL  METHODS  to 
further  debase  the  credit  money  of  the 
United  States  by  offering  Mexican  silver 
dollars  to  workingmen  wno  are  employes 
of  said  corporations  and  to  the  custom- 
ers of  said  business  firms;  and 
“ ‘Whereas,  Said  Mexican  dollars  are  not 
A LEGAL  TENDER  in  the  payment  of 
debts,  either  public  or  private,  and  are, 
therefore,  not  even  credit  or  token  money, 
and  consequently  are  no  more  valuable 
to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  than 
so  much  uncoined  bullion;  therefore,  be  it 
“ ‘Resolved,  That  we  advise  workingmen 
in  all  branches  of  industry  to  REFTtAIN 
FROM  PATRONIZING  any  firm  or  corpo- 
ration that  attempts  in  any  way,  by  the 
use  of  the  Mexican  dollar,  or  the  money 
of  any  other  third  or  fourth  nation,  to 
cast  discredit  on  the  credit  money  of  the 
United  States;  and  be  it 

“ ‘Resolved,  That  we  advise  workingmen 
to  demand  of  all  corporations  and  busi- 
ness firms  who  claim  gold  as  the  only 
proper,  lawful  and  honest  dollar,  to  act 
in  accordance  with  their  professions  of 
faith,  and  pay  their  employes’  wages  in 
GOLD.  If  the  silver  dollar  is  not  an  honest 
dollar,  it  is,  therefore,  not  good  enough 
for  the  man  who  works  for  wages.  We 
therefore  recommend  that  all  labor  or- 
ganizations be  requested  to  have  their 
wages  paid  them  in  that  kind  of  money 
which  the  bankers  and  the  bondholders 
and  money  lenders  say  is  the  only  honest 
dollar — the  gold  dollar!’  ” 

Phew!  That  is  a corker!  But,  it  is  fair 
and  square.  No  professing  Christian 
should  declare  for  a standard  that  he  does 
not  live  up  to  exactly.  So,  if  you  believe 
in  GOLD  ONLY,  pay  your  people  in  GOLD. 
Be  honest! 


“I  conceive  the  establishment  of  a na- 
tional bank  dangerous  to  the  safety  and 
welfare  of  this  Republic.” — Henry  Clay. 


AS  GOD  RULES— “NO!” 

Another  strong  and  trenchant  editorial 
from  the  columns  of  The  Philadelphia 
Item  shows  the  damnable  effects  of  the 
gold  standard  upon  business  of  the  coun- 
try. And  these  gold-barons — these  men 
without  conscience  or  truth — wouid  have 
the  people  believe  that  nothing  else  than 
a continuation  of  class-legislation  will  re- 
lei vc  them!  Read  this: 

The  Howe  Pump  and  Engine  Works,  of 
Indianapolis,  lnd.,  went  into  the  hands 
of  a receiver  on  August  4th. 

The  goldite  papers  print  this  news  with 
the  comment  tnat  the  failure  is  due  direct- 
ly to  the  free  silver  movement  ana  the 
Chicago  Democratic  platform. 

The  generai  press  dispatch  describing  the 
failure  says:  ‘‘The  company  had  built  up 
a large  business  in  the  construction  of 
water  works  and  as  an  inducement  would 
take  part  of  its  pay  in  municipal  bonds. 
These  bonds  were  either  sold  or  used  as 
collateral  for  LOANS  FROM  BANKS 
through  Chicago  brokers;  but,  soon  after 
the  convention,  the  banks  notified  tne 
company  that  NO  MORE  SUCH  ACCOM- 
MOoATlON  would  be  given  them,  which 
DESTROYED  the  market  for  SELLING. 
Thereupon  the  company  found  themselves 
so  cramped  for  money  to  go  anead  with 
their  productions  tliat  they  were  unable  to 
pay  their  daily  obligations,  although  their 
GOOD  ASSETS  are  worth  OVER  iHREE 
TIMES  THEIR  LIABILITIES!” 

Thus  the  Chicago  platform  is  used  to 
FALSELY  explain  the  action  of  the  mon- 
ey lenders  of  Chicago,  which  action  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  INTIMIDA- 
TION; it  was  a direct  notice  resulting  in 
the  failure  of  a PERFECTLY  SOLVENT 
CORPORATION,  that  manufacturers  as  a 
class  must  understand  that  banks  will  not 
loan  money  to  our  industries  unless  Che 
money-lender’s  policy  of  a DISHONEST 
GOLD  MONOMETALLIC  BASIS  is  up- 
held. 

How  far  this  same  policy  of  contraction 
by  banks,  the  money  with  which  indus- 
tries of  this  country  have  been  built  up, 
had  its  influence  upon  the  eight  million 
dollar  failure  of  Moore  Bros.,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  closing  of  the  Chicago  Ex- 
change the  4th  instant,  is  at  this  writing 
unknown  except  that  Mr.  J.  H.  Moore 
says  that  his  firm  was  unable  to  get  mon- 
ey enough  to  carry  his  stock;  but  Moore 
Bros,  was  a speculative  house,  and  not 
to  be  classed  in  the  same  category  with 
the  Howe  Works.  It  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  however,  that  the  Howe  Works 
are  not  the  only  concern  now  suffering 
from  this  diabolical  practice  of  the  money 
lenders’  fraternity. 

The  Item  puts  this  question  to  any 
honest  man:  Are  these  money-volume 

manipulators  PROPER  CUSTODIANS  of 
a nation’s  business? 

The  Item  says:  “No!” 


THE  FOLLOWING  NEWS-DISPATCH 


45 


FROM  THE  COLUMNS  OF  “THE  STAR,” 
PHILADELPHIA  (GODLITE),  HAS  A DI- 
RECT CONNECTION  WITH  AND  BEAR- 
ING ON  THE  FOREGOING  “ITEM”  EDI- 
TORIAL. FROM  BEING  THE  SERVANT 
OF  BUSINESS  MEN,  THE  BANKS  HAVE 
BECOME  THEIR  MERCILESS  MASTERS 
AND  RULE  THEM  WITH  THEIR  ROD 
OF  GOLD. 

WONT  LEND  TO  SILVER  MEN. 

Louisville,  July  1. — If  the  Democratic 
party  declares  for  free  silver  at  Chi- 
cago, Kentucky,  almost  beyond  a doubt, 
will  go  Repuolican.  This  is  what  the 
Louisville  bankers  almost  to  a man  de- 
clare. The  way  the  banks  stand  is 
shown  by  their  bitter  opposition  to  free 
silver  and  the  decided  action  they  have 
made  to  check  the  spread  of  the  craze. 
The  most  striking  example  of  this  is  the 
fact  that  by  mutual  agreement  they 
have  decided  to  refuse  to  lend  any 
money  to  any  man  who  favors  free  sil- 
ver. It  makes  no  difference  who  he  is, 
he  cannot  get  a cent  at  a Louisville 
bank  on  any  terms  or  security. 

Several  of  the  banks  sent  for  some  of 
their  pronounced  silver  patrons  and  re- 
quested them  to  withdraw  their  ac- 
counts. There  was  no  reason  for  this, 
except,  as  they  said: 

“You  are  trying  to  destroy  our  inter- 
ests and  we  must  protect  ourselves.  We 
desire  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  you.” 


FROM  BROWN  UNIVERSITY’S 
PRESIDENT! 


The  Rev.  Henry  W.  Pinkham,  pastor  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Denver,  Col., 
and  a close  friend  of  President  Andrews, 
of  Brown  University,  recently  wrote  to 
Mr.  Andrews,  asking  these  questions: 

1.  Do  you  favor  the  free  coinage  of 
silvei  at  the  ratio  of  Id  to  1 by  the:  united 

States  without  waiting  for  aid  from  other 
nations  ? 

2.  Could  the  United  States,  having  adopt- 
ed such  free  coinage,  maintain  the  prac- 
tical parity  of  the  gold  and  the  silver 
dollar? 

3.  Would  not  free  coinage  by  the  United 
States  alone  lead  to  a complete  displace- 
ment of  our  gold?  Why  not? 

4.  Would  not  the  effect  of  the  recent  in- 
creased production  of  gold  as  compared  to 
silver  be  counter-balanced  in  the  event 
of  free  coinage  by  the  stimulus  thus  given 
to  silver  mining  and  by  the  influx  of  for- 
eign silver? 

5.  Would  not  the  advantages  of  free 
coinage  be  more  than  negatived  by  the 
injury  to  our  credit,  thus  causing  a with- 
drawal of  foreign  capital? 

The  reply  received  from  President  An- 
drews follows: 

“My  Dear  Pinkham:— I was  delighted  to 
receive  your  letter  of  the  6th,  and  will 


endeavor  to  answer  your  questions  in  their 
order  to  the  very  best  of  my  ability.  So, 
here: 

“1.  I do. 

“2.  I believe  so. 

“3.  I do  not  think  so.  People  would 
not  hoard  or  export  gold  in  face  of  a 
movement  certain  to  cheapen  gold.  It 
seems  to  me  rather  likely  that  the  re- 
habilitation of  silver  by  us  would  be  the 
occasion  of  setting  free  vast  amounts  of 
gold  now  hoarded  for  military  and  other 
purposes. 

“4.  This  is  partly  answered  under  the 
last.  Further,  there  would  be  no  influx 
of  foreign  silver.  Undoubtedly  free  coin- 
age by  us  would  increase  the  total  amount 
of  silver  produced,  but  the  new  silver 
could  not  be  mined  at  so  low  a marginal 
cost  as  at  present  prevails.  The  marginal 
cost  would  be  on  the  contrary  increased 
with  the  output,  so  that  all  tendency  from 
this  source  to  lower  the  gold  price  of 
silver  would  be  negatived.  The  very  pro- 
lific siler  mines  now  are  very  few,  in- 
deed! 

“5.  Quite  the  reverse.  After  a possible 
first  shock  our  credit  would  improve  after 
free  coinage.  It  is  our  present  course 
which  must  speedily  lower  our  credit 
How  long  could  a man  or  a firm  continue 
to  have  credit  who  borrowed  each  year  to 
pay  a large  portion  of  his  running  ex- 
penses? Yet  on  a gold  basis  this  course 
is  inevitable,  and  that  is  at  this  moment 
the  reason  why  foreign  lenders  are  shy 
of  our  securities.  There  must  be  a change 
if  we  would  avoid  bankruptcy.  With  free 
coinage  every  industry  would  look  up,  and 
even  if  we  lost  our  gold  our  prosperity 
would  invite  English  capital,  just  as  Ja- 
pan’s prosperity  causes  it  to  rush  there. 
Never  since  slavery  days  has  the  press 
in  the  parts  of  the  country  familiar  to 
me  displayed  such  disregard  for  truth 
and  such  stubborn  obtuseness  to  the  most 
obvious  considerations  as  it  does  at  pres- 
ent on  the  silver  question.  This  means 
that  the  money  power  seated  in  London, 
but  with  representatives  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  is  determined 
to  continue  the  appreciation  of  gold,  and 
determined  therefore  that  the  facts  shall 
not  be  known.  The  bankers  and  the  press 
are  almost  entirely  under  its  influence.  I 
think  the  money  question  at  the  present 
time  the  greatest  question  of  civilization. 
As  ever,  my  dear  Pinkham,  I am,  with 
kindest  regards, 

“Most  respectfully  yours, 
“EBEN  J.  ANDREWS.” 

When  men  of  the  standing  and  unques- 
tioned ability  of  President  Andrews  come 
out  for  free  silver  and  favor  independent 
action  of  the  United  States,  the  gold  or- 
gans are  most  forgetful  and  utterly  fail 
to  make  their  readers  acquainted  with 
the  fact.  Years  ago,  when  President  An- 
drews was  an  international  bi-metallist, 
his  comments  were  widely  published  by 
the  same  organs  which  now  seek  to  en- 
tirely suppress  them ! It  depends  on  whose 
bull  is  gored! 


46 


AN  OPEN  LETTER! 


J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Washington,  D,  C. 

Dear  Sir: — From  the  hoary  realms  of  the 
oast  a truism  has  descended  to  us:  “Whom 
the  gods  would  destroy,  they  first  mate 
mad!”  The  great  money-lenders  of  the 
world,  who  have  planned  and  developed 
this  ruthless  and  deplorable  scheme  for 
the  plunder  of  nations  and  of  peoples,  haye 
armed  and  are  arming  these  nations  and 
peoples  with  the  very  knowledge  which 
will  be  used  to  destroy  for  all  time,  then- 
appalling  power,  which  they  have  used 
and  are  using  for  most  evil  purposes.  Mon- 
ey rules  and  controls.  Painfully  are  we 
aware  of  this  vile  condition  which  one 
arrogant  banker  has  afforded  Clews  by 
stating  that  “Money  is  King!”  (14) 

shortly  witness,  not  an  evolution,  out  a 
revolution — a revolution  as  important  in 
all  its  aspects  as  was  the  revolution  of 
1776.  The  people  will  rise — not  m disorder 
and  turmoil,  but  in  their  inherent  dignity. 
Grasping  and  holding  fast  to  the  inexora- 
ble economic  laws,  they  will  control  capital 
and  direct  its  footsteps  away  from  the 
seat  of  government  into  channels  of  per- 
manent and  true  usefulness  to  the  com- 
munity. The  interests  of  both  capital  and 
of  labor,  every  interest  of  eur  nation  de- 
mands that  this  be  accomplished.  The 
light  is  even  breaking  in  upon  some  of 
the  bankers.  The  following  extract  from  a 
speech  delivered  at  their  conference  at  Sar- 
atoga, in  1895,  tells  its  own  story:  “These 
results,  if  accomplished,  it  is  true,  would 
be  the  reverse  of  the  policy  of  taking  the 
government  out  of  the  banking  business 
by  retiring  the  legal  tender  notes,  but 
on  the  other  hand,  it  would  take  the  banks 
out  of  polities,  which  is  of  greater  im- 
portance.” 

Here  we  have  a most  candid  admission 


of  an  official  of  a national  bank.  The 
banks  and  bankers  have  been  and  are  in 
politics  scheming  for  additional  tribute  to 
add  to  the  vast  sums  which  they  have 
already  wrung  from  the  people.  Their  cry 
now  is:  “Retire  the  Government  legal- 
tenders!”  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a citizen 
other  than  a banker  complain  of  them? 
Unless  the  true  American  spirit  is  dead, 
we  will  rise  up  and  compel  bankers,  both 
foreign  and  domestic,  to  go  out  of  the 
governing  business.  The  issuing  of  money 
is  an  aet  of  sovereignty — it  is  a govern- 
mental and  not  a banking  function! 

In  your  letter  to  me  of  June  19th  yon 
make  the  very  broad  statement:  “Nor  is 
it  the  business  of  governments  to  make  an 
artificial  price  for  silver  by  creating  an 
artificial  demand  for  that  metal.”  I woulfl 
merely  amend  your  assertion  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  “Nor  is  it  the  business  of  gov- 
ernments to  make  artificial  prices  for  gold 
and  silver  by  creating  artificial  demands 
for  these  metals,”  By  all  means  permit 
gold  and  silver  to  become  mere  commodi- 
ties, possessing  no  special  rights  or  priv- 
ileges not  granted  to  other  commodities. 
I will  speak  a few  words  to  my  sensible 
greenback  friends.  If  we  would  to-day 
supply  our  country  with  the  best  national 
currency  which  has  ever  been  devised, 
namely,  legal  tender  Government  cur- 
rency, in  proper  per  capita  amount,  is- 
sued in  payment  for  services  rendered  or 
supplies  furnished  to  our  nation,  and  re- 
ceivable by  our  Government  in  payment 
of  ail  duties  and  taxes,  it  would  not  reach 
the  caneer  which  is  gnawing  at  our  very 
vitals.  In  the  greater  amount  of  our 
debts  held  at  home  and  abroad,  it  has 
been  most  kindly  and  thoughtfully  stipu- 
lated in  the  bond  by  generous  money 
sharks,  that  they  are  payable  in  a certain 
number  of  grains  to  the  dollar  of  a certain 
yellow  commodity,  the  metal  gold.  So  long 
as  in  London  an  ounce  of  this  commodity, 
gold,  purchases  an  abnormally  large 
weight  of  the  commodity  and  money 


(14)  “Wall  Street  is  not  in  any  degree  in- 
sensible to  this  crisis.  It  can  understand 
that  the  danger  may  reach  an  acuter  stage 
than  it  now  presents;  it  is  quite  prepared 
for  the  possibility  that  managing  politic- 
ians may  go  further  than  they  have  yet 
dared  in  the  way  of  sacrificing  sound- 
money  policy  in  order  to  secure  votes  for 
their  candidates;  it  is  aware  that  startling 
results  may  come  out  of  either  of  the 
party  conventions;  it  would  hardly  be  sur- 
prised should  the  Silverites  be  able  to 
block  sound-money  legislation  in  the  next 
Congress;  all  these  things  may  be  classed 
among  the  possibilities  of  the  next  few 
months.  But  Wail  Street  has  learned  to 
believe  that  there  are  greater  potencies 
than  party  platforms,  than  legislative  sub- 
serviency to  popular  ignorance,  than  the 
madness  of  a partisan  infatuation.  There 
are  situations  and  events  which  can  in- 
stantly coerce  and  convert  the  most  reck- 
less legislators  into  the  willing  servants 
of  a conservative  sentiment  that  repre- 
sents the  real  interests  and  safety  of  the 
nation.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  wait 
for  any  after-effects  of  silver  legislation 
to  remedy  its  mischiefs,  although  that 


would  be  a perfectly  safe  course.  The 
near  prospect  of  the  authorization  of  free 
coinage — a counting  of  heads  showing  a 
certainty  of  a two-thirds  vote  in  the  House 
and  Senate  for  16  to  1 — would  evoke  in 
Wall  Street  the  kind  of  conditions  that 
no  Congress  has  yet  dared  to  disregard, 
and  the  cause  of  free  coinage  would  be 
overthrown  at  the  moment  when  its  suc- 
cess seemed  most  certain.  It  is  this  re- 
served power  on  which  Wall  Street  is  now 
reposing.”— Henry  Clews,  in  his  Weekly 
Financial  Review,  May  24,  1896. 

Years  ago  Mr.  Clews  enlightened  our 
citizens  with  a terse  description  of  the 
Wall  Street  monarch  of  our  Republic,  viz. : 
“Money  is  King.”  His  latest  effort,  which 
is  quoted  above,  is  of  such  a character  as 
would  cause  a permanent  dislocation  of 
his  head  were  he  King  of  England  instead 
of  being  a member  of  the  Wall  Street 
ring  which  has  directed  the  financial  af- 
fairs of  our  nation  so  long  that  it  has 
come  to  regard  this  control  as  their  sola 
prerogative.  There  is  going  to  be  a general 
shaking-up  next  November!  The  days  of 
Wall  Street  control  and  domination  are 
numbered! 


47 


metal,  silver,  it  will  require  an  ab- 
normally large  quantity  of  wheat,  cot- 
ton, wool  and  many  other  commodities 
and  products  of  honest  labor  to 
be  the  equal  in  value  of  the  number  of 
grains  of  the  yellow  metal  gold,  which 
we  by  false  legislative  aetion,  stated 
shall  constitute  one  dollar. 

The  first  rational  step  towards  the 
much-needed  reform  of  our  financial  sys- 
tem must,  therefore,  be  to  restore  to 
silver  its  right  as  full  legal  tender  money, 
by  giving  to  it  that  privilege  of  which 
at  present  gold,  unfortunately,  has 

a sole  monopoly — viz. : unlimited 

coinage  at  our  mints  into  stand- 

ard money.  The  yellow  gold  dollars  will 
then  cease  buying  more  and  more  of  all 
forms  of  property.  If  we  get  no  further 
than  tills,  the  beneficent  results  following 
our  action  will  amply  repay  the  most 
arduous  efforts,  which  every  patriotic 
citizen  may  make  in  order  to  accomp- 
lish this  end.  When  our  purpose  has 
been  accomplished  and  we  have  properly 
coerced  England  and  Germany  into  ceas- 
ing their  war  upon  silver  by  remonetiz- 
ing it  at  the  ratio  of  15^  to  1,  I,  for  one, 
will  advocate  that  our  nation  electrify 
the  world,  by  demonetizing  not  silver  or 
gold  but  silver  and  gold,  and  thus  show 
all  peoples  and  nations  the  road  of  re- 
demption from  their  present  bondage,  or 
age  of  bonds.  That  is,  if  our  nation  will 
but  lead  the  procession,  we  will  see  na- 
tion after  nation  following  our  example; 
and,  as  they  would  do  so,  we  would  find 
that  the  so  called  intrinsic  value  of  both 
gold  and  silver  would  shrink  very  much; 
for  the  artificial  and  unlimited  demands 
of  national  mints  are  responsible  for  4-5, 
if  not  for  9-10,  of  the  present  value  of 
gold.  It  would  be  a genuine  pleasure  to 
see  obligations,  payable  in  the  currency 
of  our  land,  become  much  more  valuable 
than  those  obligations  which  claim 

just  so  many  grains  of  the  commodity 
gold  -to  be  an  equitable  settlement  of  a 
debt  of  a certain  number  of  dollars,  or  of 
the  interest  thereon.  It  would  be  most 
eurious  indeed,  if  the  free-coinage  move- 
ment, which  has  been  maliciously  dubbed 
“the  miners’  movement,"  should  in  the 
course  of  time  prove  in  reality  to  have 
been  but  the  foundation  of  a movement 
for  the  abolition,  to  a very  considerable 
extent,  of  the  present  labor  of  thousands 
of  miners  delving  into  the  earth  after 
the  commodities,  silver  and  gold,  the 
value  of  which  has  been  heretofore  ar- 
bitrarily fixed  by  legislative  fiat  at  various 
governments. 

Facts  are  stubborn  things.  That  a cur- 
rency not  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver 
may  be  worth  more  than  gold  or  silver 
is  clearly  proven  by  historical  records. 
For  centuries  Venice  was  the  commercial 
emporium  of  Europe.  During  these  cen- 
turies, with  all  their  vicissitudes,  credits 
upon  the  books  of  the  bank  of  Venice 
constituted  the  legal-tender  currency  in 
all  large  transactions.  They  always  com- 
manded a premium  over  both  gold  and 
silver,  though  they  were  not  redeemable 
in  either.  Panics  and  financial  disturb- 
ances were  practically  unknown. 

You  appear  to  labor  under  the  delusion 
that  money  would  not  possess  value  unless 
tt  is  redeemable  in  gold.  You  have  yet 


to  learn  this  unquestioned  fact — that  men 
value  money,  not  in  proportion  to  the 
labor  or  expense  expended  in  producing 
the  materials  of  which  it  is  made,  but 
on  account  of  its  purchasing  power  over 
commodities  in  general.  So  long  as  our 
own  or  any  other  government,  con- 
tinues to  receive  its  own  money  in  pay- 
ment of  all  taxes,  its  citizens  will  likewise 
freely  and  gladly  accept  the  same  money 
in  their  transactions  with  one  another, 
no  matter  whether  it  be  made  of  metal 
or  paper.  Our  citizens  are  freeing  and 
will  free  themselves  from  the  superstition 
that  our  currency  must  necessarily  be  re- 
deemable in  either  gold  or  silver.  Thus 
will  we  set  a true  example  to  all  people. 
As  other  nations  follow  our  lead  out  of 
the  age  of  bonds  and  financial  superstition, 
we  will  have  to  keep  a sharp  look  out  and 
quietly  insist  that  each  one  of  them  de- 
monetize both  silver  and  gold  at  the  same 
time — not  discard  one  and  retain  the  other, 
and  thus  inaugurate  another  financial 
juggle,  similar  in  character  to  the  one 
which  we  are  now  groaning  under,  and 
which  has  inflicted  untold  misery  upon 
tens  of  millions  of  innocent  human  beings. 
When  we  discard  the  use  of  commodities 
as  money,  we  deal  a death  blow  to  the 
blighting  influence  of  the  money  cower 
of  the  world.  So  long  as  we  use  the 
commodity  gold  as  money,  money  can  be 
cornered;  for  a corner  can  be  engineered 
in  any  commodity.  One  reason  why  the 
gold-bugs  fight  so  desperately  against  the 
remonetization  of  silver  is  that  they  know 
that  it  is  much  harder  to  run  a corner 
in  two  commodities  than  one.  They  have 
gold  cornered,  as  we  ascertained  by  pain- 
ful experience.  The  last  time  that  our 
Government  wanted  gold,  we  had  to  pay 
the  price  the  English  holders  and  con- 
trollers of  it  demanded.  What  a degrading 
position  for  our  great,  powerful  Nation  to 
occupy! 

So  long  as  we  hold  to  the  English  gold 
standard,  the  money-lenders  of  England 
will  control  our  finances ; the  control  of 
finances  means  control  of  prosperity.  Eng- 
lish influence  must  be  overthrown.  We 
must  remonetize  silver  or  consent  to 
have  English  social  conditions  visited  upon 
our  nation.  The  prosperity  which  will 
follow  the  remonetization  of  silver  will 
set  our  citizens  to  thinking.  Very  soon 
they  will  understand  that  their  true 
course  will  be  to  stop  striking  for  more 
wages,  and  strike  for  more  national  cur- 
rency— more  life-blood  to  circulate  in  the 
veins  and  arteries  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry. They  will  also  perceive  the  fal- 
lacy of  using  any  commodity  as  money 
when  the  so-called  intrinsic  value  of  it 
is  fixed  by  the  legislation  of  other  nations. 
Our  national  currency  can  only  be  sound 
and  properly  perform  its  duties  when  it 
circulates  within  our  nation.  So  long 
as  we  use  gold  as  our  sole  standard  of 
money,  foreign  bankers  are  at  liberty 
to  ship  to  their  Wall  Street  partners  a 
small  portion  of  the  bonds,  etc.,  of  onr 
foreign  indebtedness,  and  sell  it  for  our 
gold,  and  thus  send  abroad  whatever 
amount  of  our  currency  their  selfish  plans 
and  vicious  designs  may  require.  We  do 
not  wish  to  repudiate  our  debts;  but, 
how  would  you  like  to  owe  a mortgage  of 
$5,000  or  $10,000  and  have  it  payable  on 


48 


demand?  Our  foreign  debt  of  Govern- 
ment bonds.  State  and  city  bonds,  railroad 
bonds,  stocks,  etc.,  amounting  probably  to 
$5,000,000,000,  is  in  reality  a sight  mort- 
gage, payable  on  demand  by  our  Govern- 
ment, and  in  gold.  Wbat  tricky  tricksters 
the  English  Rothschild  gang  is  composed 
of!  The  total  amount  of  gold  in  the  world 
is  $4,000,000,000.  The  largest  amount  of  it 
is  locked  up  in  the  war-chest  of  Russia 
and  Germany,  absorbed  by  Asia,  or  held 
in  the  Bank  of  Prance  and  the  Bank  of 
England.  The  amount  of  free  gold  held  by 
our  Government  is  $100,000,000.  You  now 
understand  how  free  that  gold  is,  and 
exactly  how  free  and  independent  our 
Government  is.  The  English  Rothschilds 
gang  have  our  currency,  and  therefore 
our  Government,  at  their  mercy.  They 
can  derange  our  finances,  and,  therefore, 
our  commerce  and  industry  by  simply 
shipping  to  the  Wall  Street  confederates 
$50,000,000  to  $100,000,000  of  American  se- 
curities. sell  them  for  our  money,  take 
our  money  to  the  Sub- Treasury  at  New 
York,  convert  it  into  gold  and  ship  it 
across  the  water — an  endless  ehain  for 
forcing  bond  issues  by  our  Government, 
and  for  contracting  the  volume  of  our 
currency  whenever  this  gang  of  national 
cut-throats  sees  fit  to  do  so.  Our  American 
policy  should  be,  firstljr,  remonetize  silver; 
these  international  cut-throats  declare  that 
we  must  not,  and  dare  not  do  so.  Secondly, 
compel  England  and  Germany  to  £o 
likewise.  Thirdly,  demonetize  both  metals 
ourselves,  substituting  legal  tender  issues 
by  our  National  Government,  in  proper 
per  capita  amount  as  our  commerce  and 
industries  may  require.  Then,  regardless 
of  the  machinations  of  these  international 
gold  pawnbrokers,  prosperity  will  once 
more  smile  upon  our  land.  Every  man 
and  woman  who  desires  to  labor  can 
then  find  employment  at  remunerative 
wages;  distress  and  despair  will  be  ban- 
ished, and  our  Government  restored  to 
our  people.  Money  is  not  alone  the  pric- 
ing instrument  of  all  property;  it  is  like- 
wise the  medium  of  exchange  which 
must  be  made  use  of  at  every  turn  by 
every  one  engaged  in  any  form  of  pro- 
ductive industry  or  commerce. 

Therefore,  so  long  as  the  moneyed  power 
of  England  controls  the  money  or  currency 
of  our  nation  and  of  other  nations  it  like- 
wise largely  controls  the  produces  of  the 
sweat  and  toil  of  honest  labor  and  also 
possesses  the  power  of  inflicting  grievous 
sufferings  on  all  human  beings  who  labor. 
A study  from  actual  conditions  will  point 
these  observations.  From  time  to  time 
hundreds  of  thousands,  and  even  millions, 
of  citizens  in  our  land  stand  in  enforced 
idleness.  We  have  even  come  to  regard  this 
periodical  condition  as  normal,  in  the  sense 
that  it  is  inevitable,  ignoring  the  fact  that 
if  we  really  had  a sound  national  currency, 
sound  national  system  of  interchanging  the 
products  of  toil,  a commercial  panic  or 
stagnation  would  be  impossible,  as  the 
more  that  human  labor  produced  the 
greater  proportionately  would  the  consum- 
ing power  of  human  labor  become.  Think 
of  the  piteous  spectacle! — millions  standing 
in  enforced  idleness,  each  one  willing  and 
anxious  to  produce  something — each  one 
suffering  from  the  lack  of  those  things 
v/hich  their  comrades,  who  also  stand  idle. 


would  so  gladly  and  willingly  labor  and 

produce ! 

The  true  interests  of  the  people  require 
of  money,  not  its  redemption  with  any 
metal,  but  constancy  of  purchasing  power. 
It  is  only  the  bankers  and  Wall  Street 
Ring  who  desire  the  cunning  snare  which 
they  term  coin  redemption.  If  we  sought 
to  dethrone  their  idol,  Gold,  by  demonetiz- 
ing it,  how  quickly  the  hue  and  cry  would 
be  raised  that  such  a course  is  unconsti- 
tutional! But  they  lightly  overlook  the  fact 
that  silver  and  gold  are  mentioned  in  our 
Constitution  upon  a basis  of  perfect  equal- 
ity, and  that,  hence,  if  the  denial  of  free 
coinage  to  silver  be  constitutional,  their 
own  stand  places  gold  in  precisely  the 
same  category! 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN. 


“This  is  a bankers’  panic.  The  bankers 
have  been  predicting  a panic  for  years 
and  have  done  all  they  could  to  fulfill 
their  prediction.  They  tell  us  that  the 
Sherman  law  has  done  all  the  damage, 
and  they  point  to  the  present  price  of  sil- 
ver as  one  of  the  results  of  the  Sherman 
law.  Certainly  silver  did  not  fall  in  price 
because  the  Sherman  bill  made  a market 
for  4,500,000  ounees  a month.  You  cannot 
put  down  prices  by  buying.  Silver  has 
fallen  because  it  has  been  domonetized. 
The  value  of  a thing  depends  somewhat 
upon  its  uses,  and  the  main  use  of  silver 
has  been  destroyed.  Suppose  gold  had  been 
demonetized  instead  of  silver,  what  would 
gold  be  worth?’’ — Col.  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll  (on  the  panic  of  1893). 

“With  ghoulish  glee  they  welcomed 
eveiw  bank  failure,  especially  in  the  sil- 
ver States,  little  dreaming  that  such  fail- 
ures would  soon  occur  at  their  own  doors. 
They  encouraged  the  hoarding  of  money; 
they  inaugurated  the  policy  of  refusing 
loans  to  the  people,  even  upon  the  best 
security;  they  circulated  false  petitions, 
passed  absurd  and  alarming  resolutions; 
predicted  the  direst  disaster,  attacked  the 
credit  of  the  government,  sought  to  ex- 
act a premium  upon  currency,  and  at- 
tempted in  every  way  to  spread  distrust 
broadcast  throughout  the  land.  The  best 
financial  system  in  the  world  could  not 
stand  such  an  organized  and  vicious  attack 
upon  it.  These  disturbers — these  promoters 
of  the  public  peril— represent  largely  the 
creditor  class,  the  men  who  desire  to 
appreciate  the  gold  dollar  in  order  to 
subreive  their  own  selfish  interests,  men 
who  revel  in  hard  times,  men  who  drive 
harsh  bargains  with  their  fellow-men  in 
periods  of  financial  distress,  and  men 
wholly  unfamiliar  with  the  true  principle 
of  monetary  science.” — Senator  David 
Bennett  Hill  (on  the  panic  of  1893). 

“France  has  just  paid  Germany  one  bil- 
lion dollars.  Her  chief  cities  have  been 
sacked  and  plundered.  Humiliated  by  de- 
feat, torn  by  civil  dissentions,  she  laughs, 
while  all  the  rest  of  Christendom  wade 
through  the  mire  of  bankruptcy.  Her 
ships  are  full  busy,  and  what  little  other 
nations  do  is  in  carrying  to  and  fro  her 
manufactures.  Her  homes  are  happy,  her 
streets  crowded  with  passing  trains  laden 


49 


with  goods;  all  her  mills  hurrying  night 
and  day  to  get  even  with  her  demand  upon 
them.  Labor  walks  rejoicing  and  capital 
sleeps  easy,  fat  with  its  gains.  What  ma- 
gician has  done  this?  Paper  money.  Like 
the  rest  of  the  nations,  she  ran  to  its  pro- 
tection during  the  stress  and  strain  of 
her  German  war.  Unlike  and  wiser  than 
the  rest  of  us,  she  has  not  hurried  back  to 
coin.  Wiser  than  we,  she  received  the 
paper  she  offered  to  others.  This  honesty 
has  its  reward.  Her  paper  is,  to-day,  more 
valuable  than  gold!”  — Wendell  Phillips 
(whose  motto  was:  “Act  in  the  living  pres- 
ent.” When  the  monopolizers  of  black 
men  were  beaten,  he  turned  to  face  the 
plutocratic  combination  who  have  been 
and  are  seeking  to  enslave  all  toilers  in 
their  financial  metshes!) 

‘‘My  agency  in  procuring  the  passage  of 
the  National  Bank  Act  was  the  greatest 
financial  mistake  of  my  life.  It  has 
built  up  a monopoly  that  affects  every 
interest  in  the  country,  it  should  be  re- 
pealed. But  before  this  can  be  accomplish- 
ed, the  people  will  be  arrayed  on  one  side 
and  the  banks  on  the  other  in  a contest 
such  as  we  have  never  seen  in  this  coun- 
try.”— Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  during  War  of  Rebellion. 

‘‘I  believe  that  banking  institutions  are 
more  dangerous  to  our  liberties  than 
standing  armies.  Already  they  have  raised 
up  a money  aristocracy  that  has  set  the 
Government  at  defiance.  The  issuing  power 
should  be  taken  from  the  banks,  and  re- 
stored to  the  Government  and  the  people, 
to  whom  it  properly  belongs.”— Thomas 
Jefferson. 

“Place  the  money  power  in  the  hands 
of  a combination  of  a few  individuals,  and 
they,  by  expanding  or  contracting  the  cur- 
rency, may  raise  or  sink  prices  at  pleas- 
uie,  and  by  purchasing  when  at  the 
greatest  depression,  and  selling  when  at 
the  greatest  elevation,  may  command  the 
whole  property  and  industry  of  the  com- 
munity. The  banking  system  concen- 
trates, and  places  this  power  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  control  it.  Never  was  an 
engine  invented  better  calculated  to  place 
the  destinies  of  the  many  in  the  hands  of 
the  few.” — John  C.  Calhoun. 

(Upwards  of  3,000  national  banks 
throughout  our  country  act  as  one  cen- 
tralized institution  under  the  direction  of 
the  leading  New  iTork  bankers.) 

“The  power  now  possessed  by  the  na- 
tional banks  of  throwing-up  their  circu- 
lation at  will  is  wrong  in  principle,  unne- 
cessary, and  dangerous.” — Report  of  Uni- 
ted States  Treasurer  Gilfillin,  ISS1  (page 
30). 

“Events  have  satisfied  my  mind,  and  I 
think  the  minds  of  the  American  people, 
that  the  mischief  and  dangers  which  flow 
from  a national  bank  far  overbalance  all 
its  ad\ant  ges.  The  bcld  effort  the  pr  sent 
bank  has  maae  to  control  the  Government, 
the  distress  it  has  wantonly  produced;  the 
violence  of  which  it  has  been  the  cccasion 
in  one  of  our  cities  famed  for  its  obser- 
vance of  law  and  order,  are  but  premoni- 
tions of  the  fate  that  awaits  the  American 
people  should  they  be  deluded  into  a 
perpetuation  of  this  institution,  or  the 


establishment  of  another  like  it.  It  is 
fervently  hoped  that,  thus  admonished, 
those  who  have  heretofore  favored  the 
establishment  of  a substitute  for  the  pres- 
ent bank  will  be  induced  to  abandon  it, 
as  it  is  evidently  better  to  incur  any  in- 
convenience that  may  reasonab'y  be  ex- 
pected than  to  concentrate  the  whole 
money-power  of  the  Republic  in  any  form 
whatsoever,  or  under  any  restrictions.” — 
President  Jackson. 

“The  time  is  near  when  they  (the  banks) 
will  feel  compelled  to  act  strongly.  Mean- 
while a very  good  thing  has  been  done. 
The  machinery  is  now  furnished  by  which, 
in  any  emergency,  the  financial  corpora- 
tions of  the  East  can  act  together  on  a 
single  day’s  notice  with  such  power  that 
no  act  of  Congress  can  overcome  or  resist 
their  decision.”— New  York  Tribune. 

“Fifty  men  in  these  United  States  have 
it  in  their  power  by  reason  of  the  wealth 
which  they  control  to  come  together  with- 
in 24  hours  and  arrive  at  an  understand- 
ing by  which  every  wheel  of  trade  and  com- 
merce may  be  stopped  from  revolving, 
every  avenue  of  trade  blocked,  and  every 
electric  key  struck  dumb.  Those  fifty  men 
can  paralyze  the  whole  country,  for  they 
can  control  the  circulation  of  the  currency 
a.nd  create  panic  whenever  they  will.”— 
Chauncey  M.  Depew. 

“Barbarians  do  not  want  any  money 
but  hard  money;  semi-civilized  people 
want  hard  money  and  convertible  paper, 
but  when  the  world  becomes  civilized 
and  enlightened  no  other  kind  of  money 
will  be  used  but  paper  money!” — Herbert 
Spencer. 

“Both  coined  money  and  paper  money 
are  the  creation  of  law.” — Hon.  E.  G. 
Spaulding,  ex-Member  of  Congress,  and 
President  of  the  F.  & M.  National  Bank, 
of  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

“The  claim  that  greenbacks  are  not 
money  in  the  fullest  sense  of  that  term; 
that  they  can  not  do  all  in  the  way  of 
measuring  values,  so  called,  which  gold 
or  silver  may  do  is  untenable,  and  it 
can  be  of  no  advantage  to  any  reiliy 
sound  money  to  seek  to  maintain  it.”— 
“Money  in  Its  Relations  to  Trade  and  In- 
dustry,” by  General  Walker,  who,  though 
opposed  to  paper  money,  frankly  admits 
the  truth  as  above  stated. 

“A  well  regulated  paper  currency  is  so 
great  an  improvement  in  commerce  that 
I should  greatly  regret  if  prejudice  should 
induce  us  to  return  to  a system  of  less 
utility.  The  introduction  of  the  precious 
metals  for  the  purposes  of  money  may 
with  truth  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
most  important  steps  towrard  the  im- 
provement of  commerce  and  the  arts  of 
the  civilized  life;  but  it  is  no  less  true, 
that  with  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
and  science,  we  discover  that  it  would  be 
another  improvement  to  banish  them 
again  from  the  employment  to  which, 
during  a less  enlightened  period,  they  had 
been  so  advantageously  applied.”— Ri- 
cardo. 

“There  is  plenty  of  evidence  to  prove 
that  an  inconvertible  paper  money,  if 


50 


carefully  limited  in  quantity,  can  retain 
its  fall  value.  Such  was  the  case  with 
the  Bank  of  England  notes  for  several 
years  after  the  suspension  of  specie  pay- 
ments In  1297,  and  such  is  the  case  with 
the  present  notes  of  the  Bank  of  Prance." 
— Plot  Jevons. 

"No  one  can  doubt  bat  that  the  credit  of 
the  Government  is  better  than  that  of  any 
hank,  more  staple  and  safe.  I now  under- 
take to  affirm,  and  without  the  least  fear 
that  I can  be  answered,  that  paper  money 
issued  by  the  Government  with  the  prom- 
ise to  receive  it  for  ail  dues,  would  form  a 
perfect  circulation,  which  would  not  be 
abused  by  the  Government;  that  it  would 
be  uniform  with  the  metals  themselves.” 
— John  C.  Calhoun. 

''An  inconvertible  paper  made  a legal 
tender  is  universally  admitted  to  be 
money." — John  Stuart  Mill. 

"If  Congress  has  the  right  under  the 
Constitution  to  issue  paper  money  it  was 
given  them  to  be  used  by  themselves,  not 
to  be  delegated  to  individuals  or  corpora- 
tions."— Andrew  Jackson. 

"The  constitutional  power  vested  in  Con- 
gress over  the  legal  currency  of  the  coun- 
try is  one  of  the  very  highest  powers;  and 
the  exercise  of  this  high  power  is  one  of 
the  strongest  bonds  of  the  Union." — Daniel 
Webster  (in  a speech  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  Jan  nary  33,  1833). 

"The  right  of  issuing  paper  money,  like 
that  of  issuing  gold  and  silver  coins,  be- 
longs exclusively  to  the  Nation,  and  can 
not  be  claimed  by  individuals." — Writings 
of  Albert  Gallatin  (for  twelve  years  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury),  VoL  III,  page  42$. 

"IF  THE  POWER  TO  DECLARE 
WHAT  IS  MONEY  IS  NOT  IN  CON- 
GRESS, IT  IS  ANNIHILATED Deci- 
sion of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
(December,  1870,  case  of  Knox  vs.  Lee  et 
al.,  12  Wall,  Supreme  Court  Report). 

'"THE  POWER  TO  ISSUE  MONEY 
SHOULD  BE  TAKEN  PROM  THE 
BANKS  AND  RESTORED  TO  CONGRESS 
AND  THE  PEOPLE,  TO  WHOM  IT  BE- 
LONGS!"— Thomas  Jefferson. 

"VIEWING  A LONG  PERIOD,  DY- 
NAMICALLY, IT  IS  BEYOND  ALL 
QUESTION  THAT  THE  COMMODITIES 
ARE  COMPARATIVELY  STEADY  AND 
ONLY  MONEY  CHANGES!" — Robert  Gif- 
fen  (an  eminent  English  trade  authority, 
who  frankly  admits  that  when  the  general 
range  of  prices  falls  the  value  of  gold 
is  appreciating). 

E.  C.  Benedict,  the  well-known  Wall 
Street  man,  and  who  is  a warm  personal 
friend  of  President  Cleveland,  is  quoted  as 
saying; 

"Should  the  Democratic  party  adopt  a 
silver  platform  at  Chicago  it  will  kill  it- 
self, and  will  commit  a capital  crime, 
which  is  punishable  with  death!" 

Would  it  not  be  well  for  our  honored 
President  to  study  and  absorb  the  princi- 
ples of  Jefferson  and  Lincoln  and  seek  oth- 
er associates,  friends  and  counsellors  than 
those  who  rendezvous  in  Wall  Street,  New 
Yorfcf 


AN  OPEN  LETTER! 


J.  Sterling  Morton,  Esq., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — In  the  columns  of  the  daily 
papers  considerable  space  in  gold-standard 
journals  was  devoted  to  your  eieveriy 
plannee  punishment  ©f  certain  Govern- 
ment clerks  in  your  department,  who  have 
been  sufficiently  American  to  speak  out 
their  sentiments  in  favor  of  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  into  standard 
dollars  the  same  as  was  formerly  the  case 
under  Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson, 
Lincoln  and  Grant.  It  appears  that  you 
directed  that  these  advocates  of  the  true 
American  monetary  system  be  paid  their 
salaries  in  silver  dollars,  evidently  aiming 
to  convince  them  of  their  folly  by  your 
very  weighty  object  lesson.  It  is  a poor 
economic  rule  which  dees  not  work  both 
ways,  or  in  common  parlance,  "sauce  for 
the  goose  Is  sauce  for  the  gander.”  Re- 
versing this  suggestion  of  yours,  I would 
respectfully  request  of  you  and  of  all 
other  patriots  of  the  noble  or  ignoble  band 
of  English  money  advocates,  who  at  pres- 
ent control  me  Government  of  our  Na- 
tion, that  you  do  pay  all  salaries  due 
government  employes  in  gold,  likewise  all 
pensions  to  our  veteran  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors; they  are  certainly  entitled  to  receive 
honest  yellow  money.  Firms  engaged  in 
furnishing  supplies,  etCL,  to  our  Govern- 
ment would,  no  doubt,  accept  payments  in 
that  one  yellow  metal  which  you  English- 
Amerieans  think  is  sacredly  intrinsic  in 
value.  Unless  you  do  thus  pay  out  gold 
coin,  your  action  will  prove  teat  our  Gov- 
ernment has  not  sufficient  of  gold  to  con- 
duct its  business.  Your  compulsory 
scheme  of  paying  silver  advocates 
in  silver  will  no  doubt  arouse  our 
banks  and  bankers  to  action.  These  wor- 
thies who  keep  on  hand  from  10  to  25 
cents  of  eAKh  for  every  dollar  due  their 
depositors  will  no  doubt  perceive  the 
urgent  necessity  of  arranging  to  pay 
geld  dollars  to  each  any  every  one  of 
their  depositors.  This  would  merely  be 
the  logical  reversal  of  your  practical  ob- 
jecc  lesson.  Banks  and  bankers  act  as  a 
unit  against  remonetizing  silver,  and  are 
opposed  to  true  currency  reform  of  eveiy 
character.  Their  present  system  of  what 
practically  amounts  to  public  plunder, 
suits  them  very  well.  When  we  come  to 
investigate  their  flagrantly  dishonest  sys- 
tem of  transacting  business,  we  can  read- 
ily understand  their  fearfulness.  If  plain, 
honorable  citizens,  like  you  or  myself, 
were  to  attempt  to  loan  out  the  same  sum 
of  money  to  three,  four  or  five  individuals 
at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  to  collect 
full  rate  of  interest  from  each,  we  would 
of  course  promptly  find  ourselves  in  trou- 
ble! Yet,  this  is  the  safe  banking  system 
practiced  by  our  honest  money  bankers. 
Only  instead  of  risking  their  own  money 
in  this  profitable  manner,  they  kindly 
use  other  people’s  cash  in  the  scheme! 
Pot  every  3100,000  of  cash  which  our  con- 
fiding citizens  deposit  in  our  sound  oney 
banks,  the  national  banks  proceed  to 
loan  out  to  business  men,  manufacturers. 


51 


snd  feist,  but  not  least,  to  speculators 
from  $250,000  to  $500,000.  Thrifty  plan 
this,  to  loan  out  other  people’s  money, 
not  once  but  over  and  over  again,  not 
giving  real  money  at  all  to  borrowers, 
but  merely  bank -credit  or  bana-wina! — 
but  they  never  forget  to  charge  interest 
upon  each  loan,  and  in  this  usurious  and 
dishonest  manner  they  have  actually 
robbed  our  citizens  of  thousands  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  since  the  war.  The  truth 
of  the  foregoing  assertion  can  be  proven 
by  examining  a statement  of  the  actual 
present  condition  of  any  bank.  The  sys- 
tem of  State  banks,  of  private  banks  and 
bankers  and  trust  companies  is  even  more 
flagrantly  dishonest  and  dangerous  than  our 
national  banking  system.  The  official  report 
of  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  of  1893 
gives  deposits  of  5,365  State,  private  and 
saving  bands  and  trust  companies  as  $3,125*- 
333,000;  and  for  3,830  national  banks  $1,- 
910,000,000.  Total  deposits  of  all  banks  is 
$5,035,333^)00. 

Against  this  the  national  banks  held  in 
lawful  money  $322,800,000;  and  all  other 
banks  $193,187,000,  or  a total  of  $515,987,000. 

Thus  averaging  the  banks — national. 
State  and  private,  trust  companies,  etc. — 
we  find  that  they  had  on  hand  about  10 
cents  of  real  eash  upon  the  dollar  of  the 
amounts  due  their  depositors.  No  wonder 
the  sound-money  bankers  oppose  the  re- 
monetization of  silver.  It  would  to  a 
considerable  degree  free  our  nation  from 
dependence  upon  their  usurious  and  hazar- 
dous banking  system,  for  the  more  real 
money  our  Government  provides  the  less 
need  would  our  business  men  have  to  use 
fictitious  bank-loans  (15). 

In  short  we  would  transact  our  business 
affairs  more  upon  a cash  basis  as  they 


(15)  When  a business  man  or  a manu- 
facturer goes  to  bank  to  borrow,  the  bank, 
after  requiring  the  best  of  security,  en- 
dorsement, etc.,  deducts  the  interest  in 
advance,  and  then  enters  the  net  amount 
in  the  deposit-book  of  the  borrower.  This 
Is  but  one  step  in  a series  of  vicious  un- 
truths. Instead  of  a deposit  having  been 
made  the  bank  has  agreed  to  loan  a 
certain  amount  to  the  borrower.  What 
can  the  banks  loan  to  business  men?  Not 
money  in  the  sense  of  material  money 
units  of  gold,  silver  or  paper,  as  every 
bank  has  already  loaned  out  several  times 
as  many  dollars  (or  pretended  to)  as  they 
have  material  money  units,  or  dollars 
on  hand.  The  banks  carefully  conceal 
from  business  men  that  they  merely  loan 
to  them  figures  upon  the  bank  ledgers, 
or.  as  it  is  sometimes  termed,  bank  credit, 
which  is  only  another  name  for  bank  debt. 
That  is  to  say,  there  is  not  a bank  of 
our  nation,  which  present  or  past,  can  legi- 
timately loan  a single  real  dollar,  for  they 
cannot  and  never  could  meet  the  demands 
of  their  creditors  to  whom  they  have  pre- 
tended to  loan  money.  Did  you  ever  re- 
flect upon  the  radically  different  treatment 
of  the  creditor  of  a bank  and  of  the  debtor 
to  the  bank?  If  you  go  to  bank,  as  many 
business  men  did  In  1893,  and  demand  the 
money  which  the  bank  owes  you  if  the 
bank  does  not  find  it  convenient  to  pay 
you  in  cash  they  simply  offer  you  a clear- 
ing house  certificate,  which  is  merely  evi- 


do  in  France,  which  country  has  twice 
the  per  capita  circulation  of  Government 
money  that  we  have!  Banking  is, 
therefore,  not  so  extensive  nor  so  profit- 
able a business  in  France  as  it  is  here, 
but  panics  and  ruinous  financial  disturb- 
ances are  practically  unknown.  The  gov- 
ernment of  France  provides  a larger 
volume  of  governmental  currency,  so  mat 
business  is  transacted  mainly  upon  a 
cash  basis  and  money  is  always  in  the 
hands  of  the  people.  There  is  not  a 
bank  in  our  country  which  can  to-day  pay 
its  depositors  in  full  in  greenbacks  or 
silver,  let  alone  in  gold.  There  are  few 
banks  which  could  to-day  pay  three  cents 
in  gold  upon  every  dollar  of  the  amounts 
due  their  depositors.  Yellow  gold  dollars 
are,  therefore,  hardly  available  in  suffi- 
cient amount  to  transact  the  banking 
business  of  the  country  upon  them;  every 
one  who  has  gold  carefully  hoards  it, 
and  yet  you  would  have  it  our  sole 
money.  How  do  you  think  that  your 
sound-money  bankers  will  receive  my 
suggestion  of  paying  gold  to  every  one 
instead  of  doling  out  dishonest  silver  or 
silver  certificates,  or  rag  paper  govern- 
ment legal  tenders,  or  worse  than  all, 
their  national  bank  notes  which  are  not 
even  a legal  tender  for  any  amount  what- 
ever? 

With  a view  of  having  our  citizens  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  profits  of  our 
English-American  system  of  banking, 
I will  quote  a brief  extract  from  the  tes- 
timony of  George  G.  Williams,  presi- 
dent of  the  Chemical  National  Bank  of 
New  York.  Mr.  Williams  was  testifying 
at  the  Congressional  hearings,  December 
15th,  1894: 

The  Chairman — Mr.  Williams,  some 


dence  of  the  bank's  indebtedness  to  yon 
and  not  money  at  all.  When  you  come  to 
settling,  the  sum  which  you  borrowed 
from  bank  money  is  demanded  or  the  rank 
ruins  you.  If  the  banks  have  a right  to 
insist  upon  money  in  the  settlement  of 
amounts  due  them  why  should  we  net 
have  the  same  right  to  insist  upon  the 
banks  liquidating  in  cash  the  sums  due 
their  depositors  and  those  who  have  in 
good  faith  borrowed  from  them?  Rows  of 
figures  upon  bank  ledgers  have  come  to 
take  the  place  of  money  and  in  the  dis- 
honest manner  here  outlined  the  banks 
hold  many  of  our  best  business  men  at 
their  mercy  and  thus  prevent  them  from 
openly  expressing  a favorable  opinion  fur 
silver.  One  prominent  manufacturer  hero 
in  Philadelphia  informed  me  that  he  was 
much  interested  in  the  money  question, 
but  he  was  obliged  to  keep  his  mouth 
shut  or  his  credit  at  bank  would  be  with- 
drawn and  he  would  be  ruined.  When 
the  banks  contract  their  outstanding  loans 
and  thus  ruin  business  men  and  others 
who  have  borrowed  from  them,  the  banks 
state  that  their  deposits  are  decreasing  in 
amount  The  less  real  money  we  have 
in  circulation  the  more  our  business  men 
are  dependent  upon  bank  credits.  Which 
do  you  favor,  the  cash  method  of  doing 
business,  or  the  bank  credit  or  debt  sys- 
tem with  which  the  Wall  Street  plutocrats 
have  cursed  our  nation  and  its  industrial 
toilers? 


52 


members  of  the  committee  desire  to  un- 
derstand exactly  the  condition  of  your 
bank?  What  did  you  state  the  capital 
was? 

Mr.  Williams — Three  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

The  Chairman — And  the  surplus? 

Mr.  Williams — The  surplus  and  undivid- 
ed profits  are  about  $7,000,000.  The  surplus 
is  $6,000,000  arf  the  undivided  profits  a 
little  over  $1,000,000,  making  a little  ever 
$7,000,000  of  surplus  and  undivided  profits. 

The  Chairman — And  how  much  deposits? 

Mr.  Williams — Thirty  million  dollars. 

The  Chairman — What  dividend  do  you 
pay  per  annum  on  your  stock? 

Mr.  Williams — We  pay  now  150  per 
cent,  per  annum. 

The  Chairman — You  stated  the  dividend 
last  year  was  150  per  cent.  ? 

Mr.  Williams — Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman — What  were  the  undivid- 
ed profits  of  that  year? 

Mr.  Williams — Well,  I have  not  in  mind; 
but  owing  to  the  panic  our  profits  last 
year  were  not  as  large  as  usual.  Usually 
we  expect  to  add  to  our  surplus  100  per 
cent,  besides  the  dividend  we  pay  of  150 
per  cent. 

The  Chairman — That  is  $300,000  a year? 

Mr.  Williams— Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman — And  a dividend  of  150 
per  cent,  besides  ($450,000)? 

Mr.  Williams— Yes,  sir. 

Here  is  a national  banker  of  New  York 
testifying  that  in  a few  years,  on  a capital 
of  $300,000,  besides  paying  enormous 
amounts  in  dividends,  his  bank  has  ac- 
cumulated a surplus  of  about  twenty-four 
times  its  capital.  Fairly  profitable  busi- 
ness this.  Can  the  general  run  of  farmers, 
planters,  manufacturers  and  business  men 
make  an  equally  good  showing?  We  all 
know  that  they  cannot.  It  is  then  surely 
pertinent  to  inquire  from  what  source  the 
banks  derive  their  enormous  revenues.  In 
the  first  place  the  smallest  fraction  is 
made  directly  from  their  own  capital  or 
money  invested.  A very  large  portion  of 
their  vast  profits  is  made  by  loaning  out 
their  depositors’  money;  as  already  ex- 
plained they  are  not  satisfied  with  loaning 
it  out  once  but  loan  it  out  over  and  over 
again,  and  thus  not  only  do  they  unjustly 
tax  all  energy  and  every  form  of  business 
enterprise,  but  they  also  from  time  to  time 
contract  these  fictitious  loans  and  thus 
precipitate  panics,  with  all  their  wide- 
spread ruin  and  embarrassment.  If  you  can 
show  me  a single  instance  of  a panic  or 
business  disturbance  in  this  country  which 
was  unaccompanied  by  a contraction  of 
bank  credit  at  the  very  time  that  business 
men  and  manufacturers  most  required  the 
continuance  of  that  credit  to  which  they 
had  become  accustomed,  I will  be  pro- 
foundly indebted  to  you.  It  is  a matter  of 
little  wonder  that  the  people  are  begin- 
ning to  demand  “equal  rights  for  all, 
special  privileges  for  none.”  Let  our  Gov- 
ernment provide  a sufficient  volume  of 
Governmental  legal  tender  money  to  trans- 
act the  business  of  the  country  upon  a 
cash  basis.  Take  away  from  the  hanks 
their  special  privileges  regarding  the  loan- 
ing out  of  their  depositors’  money,  and 
also  their  special  privilege  of  issuing 
money.  The  issue  and  control  of  the  vol- 


ume of  money  is  too  all  important  to  be 
intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  any  corpora- 
tion or  combination  of  financial  magnates 
or  bankers.  It  is  a Governmental  func- 
tion and  should  be  exercised  by  the  Gov 
ernment  alone  and  for  the  benefit  and  ad- 
vantage of  all  the  people.  It  is  to  the  in- 
terest of  national  banks  to  force  our  Gov- 
ernment to  issue  more  bonds,  for  unless 
our  Government  is  in  debt,  that  is,  has 
bonds  outstanding,  there  could  be  no  na- 
tional bank  notes  in  circulation.  If  this 
conspiracy  of  foreign  and  domestic  bank- 
ers continues  its  as-yet-unchecked  career, 
our  National  Motto  shortly  will  become: 
“IN  SYNDICATES  OF  FOREIGN  ANI> 
DOMESTIC  BANKERS  DO  WE  TRUST!’' 
These  men  oppose  the  remonetization  of 
silver  because  they  perceive  that  it  is  the 
first  logical  and  unquestionably  constitu- 
tional step  in  true  currency  reform. 

They  realize  that  with  silver  remonetized 
the  beneficial  effects  would  be  such  that 
our  citizens  would  quickly  clamor  for 
medicine  or  tonic  of  the  same  bracing 
and  invigorating  character  and  thus  would 
be  swept  away  their  usurious  and  flag- 
rantly dishonorable  system  of  banking  with 
which  they  have  cursed  our  nation.  Since 
the  war  our  national  banks  alone  have 
made  many  billions  of  dollars  of  profit. 
In  considering  this  fact  bear  in  mind 
that  the  banks  do  not  create  wealth; 
they  amass  it,  or  collect  it,  as  a tribute 
from  every  laborer  and  from  every  form 
of  productive  enterprise;  industrious  la- 
bor alone  creates  all  wealth.  Though  the 
part  which  even  active  capital  plays  in 
the  production  of  wealth  is  or  should 
be  but  a subordinate  one,  yet  the  banks 
and  bankers  through  manipulations  of  their 
fictitious  credit  largely  absorb  the  wealth 
which  is  produced  through  the  co-opera- 
tion of  labor  and  capital.  In  addition  to 
steadily  and  systematically  plundering  our 
workers  and  business  men  of  vast  sums, 
our  so-called  honest  bankers  have  time  and 
time  again  wrought  wide-spread  business 
embarrassment  and  ruin  by  contracting 
their  loans  of  credit  which  our  business 
men  are  compelled  to  use  as  money  on 
account  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  per 
capita  circulation  of  real  money.  Is  it 
about  time  we  deprived  these  men 
of  their  fearful  power  by  depriving  them 
of  their  control  both  of  our  circulating 
currency  and  also  by  limiting  their  power 
of  loaning  out  money  to  the  amount  of 
their  own  cash  paid  in  capital?  It  is  nei- 
ther right  nor  safe  to  allow  any  man 
or  men  to  have  the  special  privilege 
of  loaning  out  other  people’s  money,  and 
of  keeping  the  interest  derived  from  it. 
This  loaning  out  of  other  people’s  money 
would  not  be  necessary  if  our  Govern- 
ment provided  sufficient  legal  tender  money 
with  which  to  transact  the  business  of 
our  nation  upon  a cash  basis.  In  thts 
manner  we  can  strike  off  the  fetters  from 
the  limbs  of  labor.  Then  industry  and 
energy  will  once  more  resume  their  true 
and  wonted  course  of  profitable  and  Ad- 
vantageous activity  and  thrift.  The  free 
and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  is  simply 
the  first  step  in  (he  battle  which  our 
nation  must  wage  with  this  strongly  en- 
trenched band  of  gold  cornerers  and  bank 
manipulators. 

In  looking  over  vonr  letter  to  me  of 


53 


June  19,  I find  the  following  statement 
which,  characteristic  of  the  purpose  of 
the  prime  movers  of  the  gold  standard  of 
money,  is  most  inhuman!  You  remark: 
“If  States  are  endowed  with  personal  feel- 
ings, those  which  have  embraced  the  mo- 
nometallic faith  would  be  filled  with  that 
cynical  joy  which  the  poet  tells  us  those 
who  are  safe  on  land  feel  when  they  see 
others  tossed  about  on  tempestuous 
waves.” 

The  only  comment  which  I have  to  make 
upon  this  remarkably  heartless  assertion 
is  that  I feel  assured  that  out  of  100,000 
Americans  gathered  upon  the  seashore  and 
witnessing  the  perils  of  other  human  be- 
ings tossed  about  upon  tempestuous  waves 
fully  99,999  of  them  would  be  filled,  not. 
with  the  cynical  joy  of  your  poet,  but 
with  profound  regret  at  the  terrible  situa- 
tion of  their  fellow-men,  and  with  intense 
desire  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to 
rescue  them  from  their  dangerous  position. 
The  fact  that  the  national  and  internation- 
al policy  of  England,  the  leader  of  the 
monometallic  States,  bears  out  your  state- 
ment of  utter  heartlessness,  and  lack  of 
humanity  will  only  serve  to  rally  the  peo- 
ple to  the  aid  of  our  patriotic  free  silver 
movement.  English  control  of  Ireland,  of 
Irdia,  of  Egypt;  her  dishonorable  and  per- 
fidious course  with  every  other  nation 
whom  she  can  manipulate  and  whose 
wealth  she  can  treacherously  absorb,  will 
serve  as  object  lessons  to  us  Americans  as 
we  cut  loose  from  the  English-planned  mo- 
nometallic gold  standard,  which  has  been 
foisted  upon  our  nation  by  English  con- 
spiracy and  gold.  John  Sherman — honest 
John  Sherman — knows  all  about  it.  A let- 
ter from  him  explaining  the  details  would 
be  eagerly  read  by  all  Americans.  Most 
respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  STERN, 

P.  O.  Box  955,  Phila.,  Pa. 


The  issue  is  with  the  American  people. 
Is  it  possible  that  they  can  be  deceived 
by  the  Gold-standard  organs  which  in  one 
breath  declaim  against  free  silver  because 
it  would  result  in  our  wage-earners  being 
paid  in  50-cent  dollars,  and  in  the  next 
breath  these  same  organs  state  that  the 
whole  free-silver  agitation  has  been,  and 
is  being,  pushed  forward  by  the  silver 
mine  owners,  who  will  have  the  value  of 
their  output  of  silver  doubled  by  free 
coinage?  They  merely  overlook  the  fact 
that,  if  their  last  assertion  is  accurate, 
under  free  coinage,  every  American  silver 
dollar  would  have  the  same  purchasing 
power  as  our  present  gold  dollar,  and 
that  our  workingmen  would,  therefore,  re- 
ceive 100-cent  dollars  under  free  coinage 
of  silver! 

Again,  these  same  English  Gold-standard 
papers  state  that  the  moment  that  we 
remonetize  silver  without  England’s  per- 
mission there  will  instantly  be  a most 
frightful  contraction  of  our  money  in  cir- 
culation, as  $500,000,000  of  gold  will  be 
hoarded  at  once,  or  exported.  They  then 
successfully  attain  the  climax  of  absurdity 
by  informing  their  readers  that  those  dol- 
lars which  do  circulate  will  have  their 
uurchasing  power  cut  in  half.  Boiled 


down,  their  statement  amounts  to  this: 
Under  free  coinage,  there  will  be  a great 
contraction  of  the  volume  of  money,  thus 
making  money  scarce.  The  demand  for  it 
will,  of  course,  remain  unaltered;  and 
under  these  conditions  they  seek  to  main- 
tain that  on  account  of  its  scarcity  that 
people  will  only  give  half  as  many  com- 
modities for  a dollar  as  they  do  at  pres- 
ent. Any  fifteen-year-old  American  lad 
can  tell  them  that  the  scarcer  money  be- 
comes the  more  commodities  of  every 
character  it  will  purchase.  It  is  only 
when  money  becomes  plentiful  that  prices 
rise;  and  even  then  they  do  not  rise  pro- 
portionately with  the  increased  volume  of 
money  in  circulation,  for  the  reason  that 
rising  prices  stimulate  industrial  enter- 
prise of  every  character,  which  stimula- 
tion increases  the  demand  or  use  for 
money,  and  thus  tends  to  prevent  prices 
from  rising  rapidly.  Granting  that  the 
present  volume  of  money  in  circulation 
aggregates  $1,500,000,000,  in  order  to  di- 
minish the  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar, 
the  volume  would  have  to  be  increased — 
not  diminished.  Were  the  number  of  dol- 
lars in  circulation  increased  to  $3,000,000,000 
it  would  not  cut  in  half  the  purchasing 
power  which  the  dollar  has  at  present, 
as  we  must  not  forget  that  with  more 
real  money  in  circulation  there  would  be 
less  of  bank  credit  (bank  debt)  in  circula- 
tion, and  that  to  the  extent  to  which  bank 
credits  would  be  contracted  the  real  money 
wmuld  merely  take  the  place  of  the  present 
false  and  most  dangerous  use  of  bank 
credit,  which  has  been,  and  is  being,  used 
to  perform  the  money  function  in  such  a 
profitable  manner  for  the  banks  that  they 
object  to  our  nation  once  more  resuming 
charge  of  its  own  monetary  system!  The 
remonetization  of  silver  will  check  falling 
prices  by  terminating  the  present  unfair 
competition  of  our  products  with  those  of 
silver-currency  nations.  This  phase  of  the 
silver  question  has  already  been  fully  ex- 
plained. In  conclusion,  I will  ask  you 
to  listen  to  the  testimony  of  Baron  Roths- 
child, published  in  the  North- American  Re- 
view for  February,  1889.  If  the  Baron 

would  but  act  behind  the  scenes  as  he  has 
spoken  before  them,  silver  would  be  re- 
monetized without  delay: 

“United  States  Minister  Pierrepont  sug- 
gested to  the  Board  that  a sin- 
gle gold  currency  was  more  stable 

than  one  composed  of  gold  and 

silver.  The  Baron  replied  that  the 
contrary  was  the  fact,  and  cited  England 
and  France  in  confirmation  of  his  ttate- 
ment — that  where  there  was  but  a single 
standard  the  fluctuation  was  larger;  that 
when  gold  was  drawn  from  England  to 
the  continent  for  any  cause  all  the  so- 
licitude concentrated  upon  the  single  gold 
standard;  gold  being  the  sole  legal  tender 
and  no  one  knowing  to  what  extent  it 
would  be  drawn  away,  all  the  panic  and 
alarm  fell  upon  it,  but  with  a double  cur- 
rency like  France,  if  gold  was  drawn  to 
England  it  caused  no  panic  in  France, 
because  she  had  a large  reserve  of  legal- 
tender  silver  upon  which  she  could  fall 
back,  and  which,  of  course,  would  not  be 
drawn  to  a gold  country;  and  he  repeated 
that  a bi-metallic  currency  was  more  Eta- 
ble  than  a single  currency.” 

Minister  Pierrepont,  in  conclusion  of 


54 


this  same  article,  remarks:  “In  America 
bi-metal ;ism  is  assured.  The  platform  upon 
which  General  Harrison  has  just  been 
elected  President  contains  this  declaration: 
'The  Republican  party  is  in  favor  of  the 
use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  money, 
and  condemns  the  policy  of  the  Democratic 
Administration  in  its  efforts  to  demonetize 
silver.’  ’* 

All  Republican  voters  who  favored  Har- 
rison in  1888  should  logically  vote  for 
Bryan  this  year,  as  at  present  the  Repub- 
lican party  stands  for  the  demonetiza- 
tion of  silver  unless  England  will  permit 
ns  to  use  it,  and  the  Democratic  party  Is 
pledged  to  remonetize  silver  without  Wait- 
ing for  the  assistance  nor  asking  the  per- 
mission of  any  nation  whatsoever! 


SOME  GOLD-JOURNAL  “ROT”! 


“To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  World: — 
Either  gold  or  silver,  if  legal  tender  for 
all  debts,  private  or  pubU  -,  is  sound  money 
for  the  people,  but  Wall  Screet  wants  us 
to  believe  that  money  is  not  sound  un- 
less it  is  scarce  and  appreciated  so  that 
no  one  but  a rich  man  can  accumulate  it. 
Some  say  that  there  is  plenty  of  money 
now,  but  that  the  bankers  are  afraid  to 
put  it  into  circulation  on  account  of  the 
free  silver  agitation,  but  we  say  that  the 
people  want  no  currency  system  that 
keeps  money  from  going  into  the  chan- 
nels of  commerce,  and  our  present  sound 
money  system  enables  money  sharks  to 
hold  it  for  speculative  purposes.  The 
World  concedes  that  free  silver  coinage 
would  help  the  farmer,  and  I see  no  reason 
to  believe  otherwise,  and  we  all  should 
know  that  when  the  farmer  is  prosperous 
his  prosperity  will  extend  to  every  fac- 
tory and  enterprise  in  the  land.  And  that 
is  what  will  create  work  and  better 
wages. 

“JOHN  H.  LEI  BOLD. 

“Phoenix,  ArL,  Aug.  10.” 

“(This  is  the  same  argument  the  Sugar 
Tru^t  used  when  it  had  three  cents’  pro- 
tection on  every  pound  of  sugar  it  re- 
fined. ‘Pay  us  three  cents  a pound  more 
for  our  sugar  than  it  is  worth— above  a 
fair  profit— and  you  will  share  in  our 
prosperity.’— Editor  New  York  World, 
Aug.  23.)” 

The  very  worthy  editor  of  that  great 
newspaper  which  is  rapidly  forfeiting  the 
esteem  of  our  citizens  forgets  to  state 
that,  in  advancing  the  prices  of  our  great 
agricultural  staples,  we  will  not  be  adding 
to  an  already  “fair  profit”  of  our  vast 
army  of  American  farmers,  but  will  sim- 
ply force  England  and  other  European 
nations  to  pay  fair  gold  priecs  for  the 
enormous  quantities  of  our  farm  pro- 
ducts whieh  they  yearly  require,  and 
which  for  years  past  they  have  been  se- 
curing from  us  on  account  of  cheap  silver, 
at  less  than  the  actual  cost  of  production. 

There  is  thus  no  comparison  between  the 
Sugar  Trust  and  our  farmers.  Further- 


more. there  is  a vast  difference  between 
class  legislation,  which  secures  tens  of 
millions  of  dollars  of  unjust  tribute  to  a 
favored  clique  of  sugar  magnates,  and  a 
constitutional  act  of  equity  and  humanity, 
which  will  permit  the  36,000,000  of  the 
dwellers  upon  the  soil  of  our  nation  to 
realize  just  living  prices  for  the  products 
of  their  arduous  toil!  How  can  our  city 
and  factory  workers  climb  the  rounds  of 
the  ladder  of  progress  when  it  rests  as 
at  present  upon  30,000,000  of  human  toilers 
who  reap  no  reward  for  their  labor?  Mr. 
Leibold  is  correct  in  his  statement  that, 
unless  our  farmers  prosper,  our  nation 
cannot! 

“There  are  about  50,000,000  silver  dollars 
In  circulation  and  378,000,000  coined  and 
ready  for  use,  which  the  Government 
would  be  glad  to  put  in  circulation,  but 
cannot.  And  yet  some  people  think  all 
that  this  country  needs  to  make  it  happy 
is  plenty  of  silver  dollars.” 

A specimen  goldite  falsehood  from  the 
editorial  page  of  the  Ledger  of  July  21, 
1806.  Mr.  Stern  will  be  pleased  to  subscribe 
$50  to  the  McKinley  Campaign  Fund  If 
the  banking  house  which  controls  the 
Ledger  can  prove  their  assertion  correct 
or  within  $306,600,000  of  the  true  figures. 
It  is  with  brazen  falsehoods  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  above  that  the  gold  journals 
seek  to  deceive  and  mislead  our  voters. 


THE  CRIME  AND  THE  CRiniN- 
ALS  OF  ’7 3! 

That  the  pernicious  financial  legislation 
of  the  United  States  was  not  due  merely 
to  ignorance,  but  was  the  result  of  con- 
spiracy, aided  by  corruption,  is  proven  by 
the  following  documents. 

First  comes  the  infamous  Hazzard  circu- 
lar, issued  by  European  capitalists  in  1862, 
and  sent  to  American  bankers.  It  was  first 
given  to  the  general  public  on  September 
18,  1886,  by  the  Council  Grove  (Kas.)  Guard, 
having  been  reprinted  from  the  original 
copy  which  was  taken  from  the  letter  files 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Council 
Grove,  Kas.,  by  Isaac  Sharp: 

“Slavery  is  likely  to  be  abolished  by 
the  war  power  and  chattel  slavery  de- 
stroyed. This  I and  my  European  friends 
are  in  favor  of,  for  slavery  !s  but  the 
owning  of  labor  and  carries  with  it  the 
care  of  the  laborer,  while  the  European 
plan,  led  on  by  England,  is  capital  con- 
trol of  labor,  by  controlling  wages.  This 
can  be  done  by  controlling  the  money.  The 
great  debt  thax  capitalists  will  see  to  it 


55 


is  made  out  of  the  war,  must  be  used  as  a 
measure  to  control  the  volume  of  money. 
To  accomplish  this,  the  bonds  must  be 
used  as  a banking  basis.  We  are  now  wait- 
ing to  get  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  make  this  recommendation  to  Congress. 
It  will  not  do  to  allow  the  ‘greenback,’  as 
it  is  called,  to  circulate  as  money  any 
length  of  time;  for  we  cannot  control  them. 
But  we  can  control  the  bonds  and  through 
them  the  bank-issue!” — Charles  Hazzard. 

The  following  deposition,  duly  attested, 
shows  how  “The  Crime  of  1873”  was  paid 
for  in  British  gold — how  the  men  whom  we 
sent  to  represent  us  at  Washington  be- 
trayed our  interests  and  became  thieves 
and  perjurors  at  the  instigation  and  tempta- 
tion of  the  manipulators  of  the  world's 
money  and  the  destroyers  of  public  pros- 
perity: 

State  of  Colorado, 

County  of  Arapahoe,  ss. 

Frederick  A.  Luckenbach,  being  first 
sworn,  on  oath  deposes  and  says: 

“I  am  62  years  of  age.  I was  born  in 
Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania.  I removed  to 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  the  year  of 
1846  and  continued  to  reside  there  until 
1866,  ^hen  I removed  to  4he  city  of  New 
York.  In  Philadelphia  I was  in  the  furni- 
ture business.  In  New  York  I branched 
into  machinery  and  inventions,  and  am 
the  patentee  of  Lucken  bach’s  pneumatic 
pulverizer,  which  machines  are  now  in 
use  generally  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  and  Europe.  I now  reside  in 
Denver,  having  removed  from  New  York 
two  years  ago.  I am  well  known  in  New 
York.  I have  been  a member  of  the  Pro- 
duce Exchange  and  am  well  acquainted 
with  many  members  of  that  body.  I am 
well  known  by  Mr.  Erastus  Wiman.  In 
the  year  of  1865  I visited  London,  England, 
for  the  purpose  of  placing  there  Pennsylva- 
nia oil  properties  in  which  I was  interest- 
ed. I took  with  me  letters  of  introduction 
to  many  gentlemen  m London,  among 
them  one  to  Mr.  Ernest  Seyd,  from  Robert 
M.  Foust,  ex-Treasurer  of  Philadelphia.  I 
become  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Seyd  and 
also  with  his  brother,  Richard  Seyd,  who, 
I understand,  is  yet  living.  I visited  Lon- 
don thereafter  every  year  and  at  each  visit 
renewed  my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Seyd 
and  upon  each  occasion  became  his  guest 
one  or  more  times,  joining  his  family  at 
dinner  or  other  meals.  In  February,  1874, 
while  on  one  of  these  visits  and  while  his 
guest  at  dinner,  I,  among  other  things, 
alluded  to  rumors  afloat  of  Parliamentary 
corruption,  and  expressed  astonishment 
that  such  corruption  should  exist.  In  reply 
to  this  he  told  me  he  could  relate  facts 
about  corruption  of  the  American  Congress 
that  would  place  it  far  ahead  of  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  in  that  line. 

‘‘So  far  the  conversation  was  at  the 
dinner  table  between  us.  His  brother 
Richard  and  others  were  there  also,  but 
this  was  table  talk  between  Mr.  Ernest 
Seyd  and  myself.  After  the  dinner  had 
ended  he  Invited  me  to  another  room, 
where  he  resumed  the  conversation  about 


legislative  corruption.  He  said:  *Tf  yon 

will  pledge  me  your  honor  as  a gentle- 
man not  to  divulge  what  I am  about  to 
tell  you  while  I live,  I will  convince  you 
that  what  I said  about  the  American  Con- 
gress is  true!’  I gave  him  my  promise; 
and  he  then  continued:  ‘I  went  to  Amer- 
ica in  the  Winter  of  1872-3,  authorized  to 
secure,  if  I could,  the  passage  of  a bill 
demonetizing  silver.  It  was  to  the  inter- 
ests of  those  whom  I represent — the  Gov- 
ernors of  the  Bank  of  England — to  hav© 
it  done.  I took  with  me  £100,000  with  in- 
structions, if  that  was  not  sufficient  to  ac- 
complish the  object,  to  draw  for  another 
£100,000  or  as  much  more  as  was  neces- 
sary!’ He  to-ld  me  German  bankers  were 
also  interested  in  having  it  accomplished. 
He  said  he  was  the  financial  adviser  of 
the  bank.  He  said:  ‘ I saw  the  commit- 

tees of  the  House  and  Senate  and  paid 
the  money  and  staid  in  America  until  I 
knew  the  measure  was  safe!’ 

**I  asked  if  he  would  give  the  names 
of  the  members  to  whom  he  paid  the 
money,  but  this  he  declined  to  do.  He 
said:  ‘Your  people  will  not  now  compre- 

hend the  far-reaching  extent  of  that  meas- 
ure, but  they  will  in  after  years.  What- 
ever yon  may  think  of  corruption  in  the 
English  Parliament,  I assure  you  I would 
not  have  dared  to  make  such  an  attempt 
here  as  I did  in  your  country!' 

“I  expressed  my  shame  to  him  for  my 
countrymen  in  our  legislative  bodies.  The 
conversation  drifted  into  other  subjects, 
and  after  that,  though  I met  him  many 
times,  the  matter  was  never  again  re- 
referred to.” 

FREDERICK  LUCKENBACH. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  at 
Denver,  Co.,  this  6th  day  of  May,  A.  D. 
1892. 

(Signed)  JAMES  A.  MILLER, 
Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  State  of  Col- 
orado. 

(Upon  the  official  records  of  Congress, 
we  find  Congressman  Hooper  admitting 
that  the  Mint  bill  of  1873  was  submitted 
to  Mr.  Ernest  Seyd,  who  furnished  valua- 
ble suggestions  regarding  the  bill,  which 
suggestions  were  incorporated  in  it!  Is  It 
not  time  that  a few  American  suggestions 
were  Incorporated  in  American  legisla- 
tion?) 


The  following  unblushing  document  was 
issued  by  tho  American  Bankers’  Associa- 
tion in  1876,  and  no  weightier  proof  could 
be  brought  forward  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are — and  have  been  for  more 
than  two  decades— In  the  merciless  grip  of 
a clique  of  sordid,  unscrupulous,  and  un- 
yielding men  who  would  see  the  Nation 
ruined  before  they  would  deviate  so  much 
as  a shade  from  what  is  “nominated  in 
the  bond” — the  “pound  of  flesh”  that,  in 


56 


English  gold,  represents  the  heart-blood  of 
our  people!  It  was  signed  by  James  Buell, 
the  secretary  of  the  association,  and  was 
issued  from  No.  247  Broadway  (room  4), 
New  York: 

"Dear  Sir — It  is  advisable  to  do  all  in 
your  power  to  sustain  such  daily  and 
prominent  weekly  newspapers,  especially 
the  agricultural  and  religious  press,  as 
will  oppose  the  issuing  of  greenback 
paper  money  and  that  you  withhold  pat- 
ronages or  favors  from  all  applicants  who 
are  not  willing  to  oppose  the  G-overnment 
issue  o f money  . Let  the  Government 
issue  the  coin  and  the  banks  issue  the 
paper  money  of  the  country,  for  then  we 
can  better  protect  each  other.  To  repeal 
the  law  creating  national  banks  or  to  re- 
store to  circulation  the  Government  issue 
of  money  will  be  to  provide  the  peovle 
with  money,  and  will  therefore  seriously 
afreet  your  individual  profits  as  banker 
and  lender.  See  your  member  of  Congress 
at  once,  and  engage  him  to  support  our 
interest,  that  we  may  control  legislation!” 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  Chi- 
cago Inter-Ocean  of  October  29,  1877,  and 
reproduced  exactly  as  found  in  the  bound 
files  of  that  newspaper: 

“The  Inter-Ocean  acknowledges  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  fo3 lowing  singular  document, 
which  came  to  this  office  from  New  York, 
Saturday  morning: 

American  Bankers’  Association, 

247  Broadway  (Room  4) 

New  York,  October  9,  1877. 
(Strictly  private!) 

Dear  Sir: — Please  insert  the  en- 
closed slip  as  leaded  matter  on  the 
editorial  page  of  your  first  issue. 
Immediately  following  the  receipt  of 
this,  and  send  marked  copy,  with 
bill,  to 

Yours  truly, 

JAMES  BUEL, 

Secretary. 

Comments  on  this  slip,  not  to  ex- 
ceed half  a column,  will  be  paid  for 
if  billed  at  the  same  time. 

J.  B. 

‘ The  following  is  the  document  which 
we  are  asked  to  insert  as  leaded  matter 
on  the  editorial  page;  in  other  words,  as 
a statement  made  by  the  Inter-Ocean: 

" ‘THE  GREENBACK  PARTY  HAS 
OFFERED,  THROUGH  ITS  MANAGERS, 
TO  SELL  OUT  TO  THE  DEMOCRATS 
AND  HEREAFTER  WORK  IN  DEMO- 
CRATIC HARNESS  IF  A FEW  OF  THEIR 
LEADERS  CAN  BE  PROVIDED  FOR. 
THIS  SHOWS  HOW  MUCH  DEPEN- 
DENCE THERE  IS  TO  BE  PLACED 
ON  THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  LUNATICS 
WHO  CLAMOR  FOR  MONEY  BASED  ON 
NOTHING.’ 

“We  insert  this — but  we  shall  send  no 


bill  for  it!  We  shall  send  no  bill  be- 
cause, in  the  first  place,  we  do  not  fol- 
low directions  about  leading  it;  secondly, 
we  can’t  believe  a word  of  the  statement 
to  be  true.  We  do  not  know  who  is  man- 
aging the  affairs  of  the  American  Bank- 
ers’ Association;  but,  whoever  he  is,  we 
advise  that  body  to  get  rid  of  him  with- 
out delay.  The  attempt  to  thus  mali- 
ciously destroy  the  Greenback  party  with- 
out submitting  a word  of  proof  is  a piece 
of  effrontery  which  ought  to  be  beneath 
any  body  of  commercial  gentlemen,  and 
especially  the  American  Bankers’  Asso- 
ciation.” 

The  following  is  a verbatim  copy  of  the 
document  that  became  famous  as  “The 
Panic  Bulletin,”  and  which  was  issued 
in  March,  1893,  to  every  national  bank  in 
the  United  States: 

“Dear  Sir: — The  interests  of  the  nation- 
al bankers  require  immediate  financial 
legislation  by  Congress.  Silver,  silver 
certificates,  and  Treasury  notes  must  be 
retired,  and  the  national  bank  notes  upon 
a gold  basis  made  the  only  money.  This 
will  require  the  authorization  of  from  $500,- 
000,000  to  $1,000,000,000  of  new  bonds  as  a 
basis  of  circulation.  You  will  at  once  re- 
tire one-third  of  your  circulation  ami  call 
in  one-half  your  loans.  Be  careful  to 
make  a money  stringency  felt  among  your 
patrons,  especially  among  influential  bus- 
iness men.  Advocate  an  extra  session  of 
Congress  for  the  repeal  of  the  purchase 
clause  of  the  Sherman  law  and  act  with 
the  other  banks  of  your  city  in  securing 
a large  petition  to  Congress  for  its  un- 
conditional repeal.  Use  personal  influence 
with  Congressmen  and  particularly  let 
ycur  wishes  be  known  to  your  Senators. 
The  future  life  of  national  banks  as  fixed 
and  safe  investments  depends  upon  im- 
mediate action,  as  there  is  an  increasing 
sentiment  in  favor  of  Government  legal- 
tender  notes  and  silver  coinage.” 


A CHOICE  IN  CONSTITUTIONS! 


“Congress  shall  have  power  to  coin  mo- 
ney and  regulate  the  value  thereof.” — Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

“Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  coin 
money  and  regulate  the  value  thereof 
without  first  consulting  English  financiers 
and  accepting  their  guidance  and  advice.” 
— The  Constitution  as  amended  by  the 
framers  of  the  Republican  platform  of  1S96 
which  declares  that  we  should  not  coin 
silver  without  the  advice  and  consent  of 
an  international  money  congress!). 

Which  do  you?  prefer — the  Constitution 
of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson,  and 
Lincoln,  or  the  Amended  Constitution  pro- 
posed by  the  Republican  (?)  Convention  of 
1896? 


A SHARP  ANSWER 


A Colorado  Business  flan’s  Reply 
to  Philadelphia  Queries! 


PHILADELPHIA,  July  21,  1896. 

H.  Halthusen,  Esq.,  Colorado  Springs,  Colo.:  Dear  Sir — Busi- 
ness is  flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable.  Wheels  of  business  blocked 
by  heavy  importations  of  goods  and  wool.  Silver  crusade  scares 
investors,  bankers  and  merchants.  The  leaders  of  the  Populistic 
party  strike  us  as  by  no  means  safe  men  to  manage  either  financial, 
or  commercial,  or  international  affairs  of  a great  country  like  ours. 
Every  mill  is  shut  down,  wholly  or  partially.  We  would  like  your 
views  on  the  situation. 

Are  you  for  gold? 

How  will  Colorado  go  on  the  Presidential  election? 

We  started  in  this  year  looking  for  breakers  ahead,  and  there 
are  plenty  of  them  in  sight. 

With  kind  regards,  very  respectfully, 

LOUIS  F.  FISKE  & CO, 


COLORADO  SPRINGS,  Colo.,  July  24. 

Louis  S.  Fiske  & Co.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.:  Gentlemen — Your 

favor  of  the  21st  received.  In  reply  will  say:  I am  for  silver,  as 
CLEVELAND  and  the  GOLD  STANDARD  have  RUINED  the 
COUNTRY.  I think  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  people 
of  the  West  WILL  VOTE  FOR  BRYAN.  This  will  include 
Illinois  and  Indiana.  Having  had  a good  opportunity  to  meet 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  West  and  South,  I find  that  the 
agricultural  masses  and  people,  such  as  merchants  and  mechanics, 
that  depend  upon  the  farmers  for  their  support,  are  ALMOST 
UNANIMOUS  for  the  DEMOCRATIC  NOMINEE.  Party  lines 
will  be  ignored  in  the  coming  election,  as  most  of  the  people  feel 
that  their  VERY  EXISTENCE  depends  upon  a RADICAL 
CHANGE.  As  we  have  to  market  our  produce  in  competition 
with  the  cheapest  labor  on  earth,  as  the  prices  for  our  products 
are  made  in  Europe,  and  as  we  are  compelled  to  pay  Eastern 
manufacturers  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent,  more  than  we  could 
buy  it  for  in  foreign  countries,  where  we  have  to  sell  our  surplus, 
therefore  it  is  no  wonder  we  are  SO  POOR.  The  East  has 
brought  this  condition  on  themselves,  and  whenever  the  West 
wanted  anything  they  set  up  a great  big  howl  and  cried  us  down, 
but  they  have  done  it  for  the  last  time.  Yours  truly, 

IL  HALTHUSEN 


“The  Star=Spangled  Banner” 


O,  say,  can  you  see,  by  the  dawn’s  early  light. 

What  so  proudly  we  hailed  in  the  twilight's  last  gleaming? 

Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars  through  the  perilous  fight. 

O'er  the  ramparts  we  watched  were  so  gallantly  streaming; 

And  the  rockets'  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air 
Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there. 

Q,  say,  does  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave? 

On  the  shore  dimly  seen  through  the  nrists  of  the  deep. 

Where  the  foe’s  haughty  host  In  dread  silence  reposes, 

What  is  that  which  the  breeze,  o’er  the  towering  steep, 

As  it  fitfully  blows,  half  conceals,  half  discloses? 

Now  it  catches  the  gleam  of  the  morning's  first  beam 
In  full  glory  reflected  now  shines  on  the  stream. 

"Rs  the  Star-Spangled  Banner!  O,  long  may  it  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave! 

And  where  is  that  band  who  so  vauntingly  swore 
That  the  havoc  of  war  and  the  battle’s  confusion, 

A home  and  a country  should  leave  us  no  more? 

Their  blood  has  washed  out  their  foul  footsteps'  pollution ! 

No  refuge  could  save  the  hireling  and  slave 

Prom  the  terror  of  death  and  the  gloom  of  the  grave. 

And  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave! 

O,  thus  be  it  ever,  when  freeman  shall  stand 
Between  their  loved  homes  and  the  war’s  desolation; 

Blest  with  victory  and  peace,  may  the  heaven-rescued  land 
Praise  the  Power  that  has  made  and  preserved  us  a nation. 

Then  conquer  we  must,  for  our  cause  it  is  just. 

And  this  be  our  motto,  “In  God  is  Our  Trust.’ 

And  the  Star-Spangled  Banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O’er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave! 

—Francis  Scott  Key. 


Written  daring  the  English  attack  upon  Baltimore  in  1814.  It  applies 
with  full  force  to  the  English  attack  upon  our  American  financial  sys- 
tem, which  began  in  1873,  and  has  continued  down  to  the  present  time! 
If  we  must  consult  and  defer  to  England  regarding  our  monetary  sys- 
tem, why  not  haul  down  the  Star-Spangled  banner  and  substitute 
English  flag  for  it? 


“The  Ship  of  State” 


Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O Ship  of  State! 

Sail  on,  O Union,  strong  and  great! 

Humanity,  with  all  its  fears, 

With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 

Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 

We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel. 

What  Workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 

Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail  and  rope. 

What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat. 

In  what  a forge  and  what  a heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 
i'ear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 

’Tis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock; 

"Hi  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail. 

And  not  a rent  made  by  the  gale! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest’s  roar. 

In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore. 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thuo. 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears. 

Our  faith  triumphant  o’er  our  fears. 

Are  all  with  thee — are  all  with  thee! 

— Henry  W.  Longfellow. 

11  II  II  II  II  II  W N 

“ Breathes  there  a man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said. 

This  is  my  own,  my  native  land! 

Whose  heart  bath  ne’er  within  him  burned, 

As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned 
From  wandering  on  a foreign  strand? 

If  such  there  breathe,  go,  mark  him  well; 

For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  swell; 

High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  name. 

Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claina. 

Despite  those  titles,  power,  and  pelf. 

The  wretch  concentred  all  in  self, 

Living,  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 

And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung 
Unwept,  unhonored,  and  nnsung!” 


—Sir  Walter  Scott. 


SHALL  WE  “WAIT  FOR  ENGLAND”? 


The  Following  Gem  Is  from  “The  London  Stat- 
ist” (Goldite),  July  1,  18p3. 


“The  new  policy  of  the  Indian  Government  is  likely  to  intensify  the 
appreciation  in  gold!  We  have  pointed  out  elsewhere  that  the  new 
policy  is  tentative  and  provisional;  and  the  most  powerful  member  of 
the  Herschell  Commission — who,  in  fact,  carried  the  Commission  with 
him — looks  forward  to  the  adoption  of  gold  as  the  standard  of  value, 
and  ultimately  to  the  accumulation  of  gold  revenue;  while  other  mem- 
bers consider  that  the  new  policy  cannot  be  carried  out  unless  a gold 
reserve  is  accumulated  as  soon  as  may  be!  We  are  bound  to  assume 
that,  by-and-by,  India  will  become  a much  larger  consumer  of  gold! 
The  point  to  bear  in  mind  is  that  the  world  will  understand  that  the 
new  policy  is  provisional,  and  that,  by-and-by,  India  will  probably 
endeavor  to  accumulate  gold!  That  being  so,  all  the  other  govern- 
ments will  be  anxious  to  anticipate  India,  and  the  likelihood  is  that 
the  scramble  for  gold  will  receive  a new  impetus!  If  it  does,  then  we 
will  have  to  look  forward  to  a further  fall  in  prices;  to  frequent 
fluctuations  in  the  value  of  money;  and  to  occasional  severe  spasms  in 
the  money-market.  If  the  Indian  government  succeeds,  silver,  in  fact, 
ceases  to  be  a precious  metal,  and  gold,  in  the  future  will  alone  have 
to  supply  all  the  monetary  demands  of  the  civilized  world.  It  follows, 
necessarily,  that  the  value  of  gold  must  steadily  rise! — unless,  indeed, 
new  mines  are  discovered  and  the  production  is  immensely  increased. 
One  consequence  of  the  further  appreciation  of  gold  will  be  to  intensify 
the  agricultural  depressions  all  over  Europe!  Most  of  the  charges  on 
land  have  been  fixed  heretofore.  They  will  weigh  more  and  more 
heavily  upon  the  land-owners  as  gold  rises  in  value! — in  other  words, 
aa  prices  decline.  So  again,  rents  will  become  more  onerous,  and  it 
will  be  found  that  the  settlement  of  the  last  few  years  was  only  trans- 
ient; and  that  a further  reduction  will  become  necessary!  Also,  it  is 
evident  that  the  burden  of  debt,  not  only  upon  individuals,  but  upon 
governments,  will  be  increased.  Countries  like  France,  with  an  enor- 
mous debt,  will  feel  the  pinch,  though  France  is  so  rich,  and  her  people 
so  thrifty  that  she  will  be  able  to  bear  the  trial.  The  poorer  countries 
will  see  their  difficulties  immensely  increased,  and — unless  they  fall 
back  upon  silver— the  number  of  bankrupt  governments  will  almost  cer- 
tainly increase!  Spain,  for  example,  is  almost  bankrupt  already;  but 
her  difficulties  will  be  increased  as  the  burden  of  ber  gold  debt  is  aug- 
mented. It  will  be  hardly  possibl  e for  Portugal  to  conclude  a satisfac- 
tory settlement  with  her  bondholders.  The  troubles  of  Greece  will  be 
added  to,  and  the  trials  of  Itaiy  will  likewise  be  multiplied.  Every- 
where, the  burden  of  debt  will  necessarily  increase  taxation,  and  so 
will  weigh  very  heavily  upon  the  general  population! 

The  date  of  tlie  appearance  of  the  above  in  the  Stat- 
ist was  just  one  week  after  the  closing;  of  the  mints  of 
Indial 


CARLISLE  IN  1878! 


Favored  Silver  and  Deplored  the 
“Crime  of  1873.” 


I shall  not  enter  into  an  examination  of  the  causes  which 
have  combined  to  depreciate  the  relative  value  of  silver,  and 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  gold  since  1873,  but  I am  one  of 
those  who  believe  that  they  are  transient  and  temporary  in 
their  nature,  and  that  when  they  have  passed  away  or  have 
been  removed  by  the  separate  or  united  actions  of  the  na- 
tions most  deeply  interested  in  the  subject,  the  old  ratio  of 
actual  and  relative  value  will  be  re-established  on  a firmer 
foundation  than  ever.  I know  that  the  world’s  stock  of 
precious  metals  is  none  too  large,  and  I see  no  reason  to  ap- 
prehend that  it  will  ever  become  so.  Mankind  will  be  fortu- 
nate, indeed,  if  the  annual  production  of  gold  and  silver  coin 
shall  keep  pace  with  the  annual  increase  of  population,  com- 
merce and  industry.  According  to  my  view  of  the  subject,  the 
conspiracy  which  seems  to  have  been  formed  here  and  in  Eu- 
rope to  destroy  by  legislation  and  otherwise  from  three-sev- 
enths to  one-half  the  metallic  money  of  the  world  is  the  most 
GIGANTIC  CRIME  of  this  or  any  other  age. 

The  consummation  of  such  a scheme  would  ultimately  en- 
tail more  misery  upon  the  human  race  than  all  the  wars,  pes- 
tilence and  famine  that  ever  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  absolute  and  instantaneous  destruction  of  half  the 
movable  property  of  the  world,  including  horses,  ships,  rail- 
roads and  all  other  appliances  for  carrying  on  commerce, 
while  it  would  be  felt  more  sensibly  at  the  moment,  would 
not  produce  anything  like  the  prolonged  distress  and  disorgan- 
ization of  society  that  must  inevitably  result  from  the  perma- 
nent annihilation  of  one-half  of  the  metallic  money  of  the 
world.  JOHN  G.  CARLISLE. 

February  21,  1878. 


GRANT  ON  SILVER! 


Had  No  Knowledge  of  Its  Demonetization 
Until  January,  1875! 


In  the  new  edition  of  the  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Demo- 
cratic National  Committe,  entitled  “Money  of  the  Constitution,” 
will  be  found  the  following  extract,  which  shows  conclusively 
that  President  Grant  had  no  knowledge  of  the  demonetization 
of  silver  up  to  the  time  of  his  sending  this  message  to  Con- 
gress, which  was  in  January,  1875.  On  January  14,  1875,  in 
a message  announcing  his  approval  of  the  act  to  provide  for 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments  and  suggesting  further  leg- 
islation to  make  the  law  effective,  President  Grant  said: 

“In  fact,  to  earry  out  the  first  section  of  the  act,  an- 
other mint  becomes  a necessity.  With  the  present  facili- 
ties for  eoinagre  it  would  take  a period  probably  beyond 
that  fixed  by  law  for  final  specie  resumption  to  coin  the 
silver  necessary  to  transact  the  business  of  the  country.” 

u 11  11  11  11  11  11  11 

“ Let  us  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  the 
Nation  shall,  under  God,  have  a new 
birth  of  freedom:  and  that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth  1” 
—Abraham  Lincoln 

(At  Gettysburg,  November  19, 1863). 


JAMES  C.  BLAINE  ON  SILVER. 


Extract  From  a Speech  Delivered  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  Feb.  7,  1878. 


“I  believe  the  struggle  now  going  on  in  this  country  and 
In  other  countries  for  a single  gold  standard  would,  if  suc- 
cessful, produce  widespread  DISASTER  in  and  throughout  the 
commercial  world.  The  DESTRUCTION  OF  SILVER  AS 
MONEY,  and  establishing  gold  as  the  sole  unit  of  value,  must 
have  a ruinous  effect  on  all  forms  of  property  except  those 
investments  which  yield  a fixed  return  in  money.  Those  would 
be  enormously  enhanced  in  value,  and  would  gain  a dispropor- 
tionate and  unfair  advantage  over  every  other  species  of  prop- 
erty. If,  as  the  most  reliable  statistics  affirm,  there  is  nearly 
seven  billion  dollars  of  coin  or  bullion  in  the  world,  very  equal- 
ly divided  between  gold  and  silver,  it  is  impossible  to  strike 
silver  out  of  existence  as  money  without  results  that  will 
prove  DISTRESSING  TO  MILLIONS  and  utterly  disastrous 
to  tens  of  thousands. 

“I  believe  gold  and  silver  coin  to  be  the  MONEY  OF  THE 
CONSTITUTION,  indeed,  the  money  of  the  American  people 
anterior  to  the  Constitution,  which  the  great  organic  law  rec- 
ognized as  quite  independent  of  its  own  existence.  No  power 
was  conferred  on  Congress  to  declare  that  either  metals 
should  be  money.  Congress  has,  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  no 
power  TO  DEMONETIZE  SILVER  any  more  than  to  de- 
monetize gold — no  power  to  demonetize  either  any  more  than  to 
demonetize  both.  Few  persons  can  be  found,  I apprehend, 
who  will  maintain  that  Congress  possesses  the  power  to  de- 
monetize BOTH  GOLD  AND  SILVER,  or  that  Congress 
could  be  justified  in  prohibiting  the  coinage  of  both,  and  yet 
In  logic  and  legal  construction  it  would  be  difficult  to  show 
where  and  why  the  power  of  Congress  over  silver  is  greater 
than  over  gold — greater  over  either  than  over  the  two.  If, 
therefore,  silver  has  been  demonetized,  I am  IN  FAVOR  OF 
REMONETIZING  IT.  If  its  coinage  has  been  prohibited,  I 
am  in  favor  of  ordering  it  to  be  resumed.  If  it  has  been  re- 
stricted, I am  in  favor  of  having  it  enlarged.” 


(IN  PREPARATION) 


SINGLE  TAX! 


A Death-Blow  to  Speculation! 
Permanent  Prosperity  Assured! 

The  Banking-Clique  Controlled! 

The  Money  - Function  Regulated! 

The  Economic  Principle  Is  Sound! 

The  Principle  as  Applied  to  Money! 
Free  Money  Will  Free  All  Toilers! 
Capitalistic  Domination  Overthrown! 
The  Device  Unobjectionable— Effective! 


“Congress  shall  have  power  to  coin  money 
and  regulate  the  value  thereof.” 

— Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


AVERAGE  GOLD  STANDARD  PRICE  OF  WHEAT,  COTTON,  AND  SILVER 
BULLION,  BY  YEARS  FROM  1872  TO  1894: 


WHEAT. 

COTTON. 

SILVER. 

WHEAT. 

COTTON. 

SILVER. 

1872 

1.47!  1872  . 

. 19.3 

1872  . 

. 1.32 

1833  . 

. 1.13 

1883  . . . 

, 10.8 

1883 

1.11 

1873 

1.31,1873  . 

. 18.8 

1873  . 

. 1.29 

L884  . 

. 1.07 

1884  - - 

10.5 

1884  , 

1.10 

1874 

1.4311874  . 

. 16.4 

1874  . 

. 1.27 

1885  . 

. .86 

1885  . , . 

, 10.6 

1885  , 

1.06 

1875 

1.12]  1875  . 

. 15  0 

1875  . 

. 1.24 

1886  . 

. .87 

1886  . . . 

, 9.9 

1886  , 

.99 

1876 

1.24 1 1876  . 

. 12.9 

1876  . 

. 1.15 

1887  . 

. .89 

1887  . . . 

9.5 

1887 

.97 

1877 

1.17 

1877  . 

. 11.8 

1877  . 

. 1.20 

1888  . 

. .85 

1888  . . . 

. 9.8 

1888 

.93 

1878 

1.34 

1878  . 

. 11.1 

1878  . 

. 1.15 

1889  . 

. .90 

1889  . . , 

, 9.9 

1889 

.93 

1879 

1.07 

1879  . 

. 9.9 

1879  . 

. 1.12 

1890  . 

. 1.08 

1890  . . . 

. 10.1 

1890 

1.04 

1880 

1.25 

1880  . 

. 11.5 

1880  . 

. 1.14 

1891  . 

. .85 

1891  . . . 

. 10  0 

1891 

.98 

188  l 

1.11 

1881  . 

. 11.4 

1881  . 

. 1.13 

1892  . 

. .80 

1892  . . , 

. 8.7 

1892 

.87 

1882 

1.19 

1882  . 

. 11.4 

1882  . 

. 1.13 

1893  . 

. .62 

1893  . . , 

. 7.0 

1893 

.75 

1894  . 

1894  . . 

. 5.5 

1894 

.65 

Shipment  of  wheat  from  British  India  to  England  increased  from  730,485 
bushels  in  1873  to  56,566,393  in  1892. 

AVERAGE  GOLD  PRICE  OF  FORTY-FIVE  PRINCIPAL  COMMODITIES,  BY 
INDEX  NUMBERS,  ACCORDING  TO  TABLES  OF  MR.  SAUERBECK. 


1S73  . 

. . . 1.02 1877  . 

. . .94 

1881  . . 

, . .85 

1885  . . 

. .72!  1889  . . . 

.72 

1893  . . . 

.63 

1874  . 

, . . 1.02|1878  . 

. . . .87 

1882  . . 

, . .84 

1886  . . 

. .69,1890  . . . 

.72 

1894  . . . 

.58 

1875  . 

. . . .96  1879  , 

, . . .83 

1883  . , 

. . .82 

1887  . . 

. .6811891  . . . 

.72 

1876  . 

. . . .95 1880  . 

. . . .88 

1884  . , 

. . ,76 

1888  . . 

. .70j  1892  ... 

.66 

major  mckinley  denounced  Cleveland  for  his 

ANTI-SILVER  VIEWS  IN  1891. 


In  a speech  before  the  Ohio  Republican  Leagues  at  Toledo,  Ohio, 
February  12,  1891,  Major  McKinley  said,  speaking  of  Mr.  Cleveland 
and  his  Administration : 

“ During  all  of  his  years  at  the  head  of  the  Government  he  was  dis- 
honoring ONE  OF  OUR  PRECIOUS  METALS,  one  of  our  own  great 
products,  discrediting  silver  and  enhancing  the  price  of  gold.  He  en- 
deavored even  before  his  inauguration  to  office  to  STOP  THE  COIN- 
AGE OF  SILVER  DOLLARS,  and  afterwards  to  the  end  of  his  Ad- 
misistration  persistently  used  his  power  to  that  end.  He  was  determined 
to  contract  the  circulating  medium  and  demonitize  one  of  the  coins  of 
commerce,  limit  the  volume  of  money  among  the  people,  MAKE  MONEY 
SCARCE,  and,  therefore,  dear.  He  would  have  increased  the  value  of 
money  and  diminished  the  value  of  everything  else — money  the  master, 
everything  else  its  servant.  He  was  NOT  THINKING  OF  THE  POOR 
THEN.  He  had  left  * their  side.’  He  was  not  ‘ standing  forth  in  their  de- 
fense.’ Cheap  coats,  CHEAP  LABOR  AND  DEAR  MONEY;  the 
sponsor  and  promotor  of  these  professing  to  stand  guard  over  the  welfare 
of  the  poor  and  lowly.  Was  there  ever  more  glaring  inconsistency  or 
reckless  assumption.?” 

If  William  McKinley  was  right  then  (1891),  he  must  be  wrong  now  (1896)* 
The  above  tables,  whose  accuracy  stands  unquestioned,  will  aid  we  Americans  in 
rendering  a sound,  honest  verdict.  As  gold  appreciates  in  value  (purchasing  power) 
our  assets  shrink,  but  the  number  of  dollars  (of  gold)  due  the  English-American 
Capitalistic  Combination  does  not  shrink  with  the  shrinkage  of  our  assets.  Well 
and  truly  did  Major  McKinley  five  short  years  since  state : “Was  there  ever 

more  glaring  inconsistency  or  reckless  assumption?’* 


